Moonlight
by sable1456
Summary: Note: It's a sequel to my "No Second Chances". With the case of Haddock's "Number 3" painting solved, our favorite detectives continue to serve the city of Zootopia. And just when they start to complain about monotony of their jobs, they get invited for a mayor Ketchikan's banquet, where they are dragged into events that could change them and whole the city along with them.
1. Returns

NOTE: This is a sequel to "No Second Chances" fanfiction, which can be found at my profile. If you haven't read it before, go and check it out beforehand in order to avoid some spoilers. You will not regret it :D

* * *

Chapter 1. „Returns"

 _2.24 am. Monday, 8 May, 2000_

Max Reynolds woke up yelping in terror. It was the middle of night, he realized as he looked around his dark, big room. Instead of going back to sleep, the eight-year-old pup jumped off his bed and walked out to the corridor. He wandered across the dark, empty corridors of Reynolds residence, until he saw what he instinctively sought: the curtains of an opened balcony door waving gently on the wind. Max walked over to them and saw the opened balcony door and there, a wolf in her thirties with a paintbrush in her paw and palette in another, contemplating the painting she was just finishing. It was his mother, Ilya Reynolds. She didn't even notice as he stood right by her.

"Mom?" Max asked, tilting his head curiously.

"Max, aren't you sleeping?" His mother turned around, put aside her tools and patted his head. "It's the middle of night, pup, and it's cold outside," she worried about him.

"I'm not cold," young Max assured and she assured.

"Of course you're not, you're an arctic wolf," Mrs. Reynolds chuckled. "But why aren't you sleeping?"

"Why aren't you, mom?" Max asked watching her with concern. She looked awfully; she was emaciated and looked very, very tired. Mrs. Reynolds smiled weakly.

"I can't, pup," she reminded him. Ilya Reynolds suffered to Fatal Familial Insomnia, FFI for short, an awful genetic disease that caused its bearer to gradually suffer stronger and stronger insomnia until he'd be unable to sleep at all and in result, die of exhaustion. Her FFI had triggered three years earlier and no one before her had lived this long with this burden; it was only possible with the millions that Thomas Reynolds, her husband and Max's father, invested into helping her. Max knew it, even if he didn't understand and couldn't accept that his mother was slowly dying. Somewhere deep in his heart, there lied hope that medics would find something to stop FFI and save his mother. He couldn't know that whole decade later doctors would discover that doxycycline stops progress of FFI; just to save Max, bearer himself, but years too late to help his mother.

"What are you doing, mom?" Max asked curiously, trying to push grim thoughts away.

"Oh, I… I've been painting. I returned to my old hobby now that I have nights all for myself," Ilya Reynolds explained and giggled. "That's how I met your father, you know? I was selling my pictures in the park next to father's hospital; he was there after some minor car accident. He'd keep staring out the window at me for two weeks until he managed to come and ask me out," she recalled blissfully.

"So, how do you like it?" She asked and Max watched it carefully. His mother's painting showed the view of Tundratown in the night with snow-covered rooftops, several lights still glowing in the windows, lines of lampposts, a couple of cars parked by the road, a lonely passerby making his way him and above them all, huge moon shining with its subtle light. Everything looked so realistically that Max was certain at first it was a photo.

"It's amazing, mom. Are you finished?" He asked.

"Almost. There's just one thing more that needs to be done. A signature," she explained and then, some idea came to her mind. "Actually, would you like to sign it with me? I've been thinking of you a lot as I painted, so I guess you could say we did it together," Mrs. Reynolds explained with a smile and Max nodded eagerly.

"Alright then, grab a brush, this one, the thin one. Now, the white paint, we'll use it for signature," his mother guided him. Max grabbed the brush and was ready to write on the painting when she stopped him.

"We won't use your full name, though, but initials, Max. Now, here write M for Maximilian, but remember, very small," Ilya Reynolds told her son. He gently painted an "M" in a bottom left corner.

"Perfect. Now write T for Theodore here… And R for Reynolds right there. Wonderful! Your first painting, Max!" Mrs. Reynolds exclaimed and kissed her son on the forehead, as the pup giggled watching the painting carefully and then, looked up to his mother, grinning. For a moment he forgot that their bliss would not last forever.

* * *

 _6.07 pm. Friday, August 16, 2020_

Twenty years later, Max Reynolds, dressed now in his ZPD uniform, was standing in front of the painting "Moonlight" by Jackson Haddock, only by few mammals known by her real name of Ilya Reynolds. When he was a pup, that night seemed like a beautiful dream. Until a year earlier when Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps discovered Haddock's true identity, he thought it was but a one. And now that he knew it was real, he kept staring at the painting reliving one of those few moments he remembered his mother by. Watching the "Moonlight", he didn't even notice when someone came to the room.

"There you are! It's good to see you, Max!" Thomas Reynolds greeted him.

"Good evening, father," Max greeted him. "Sorry that I didn't come to your office first, I just…" Max explained, as his father stood by him.

"Oh, I understand. I do love coming here too. Nothing reminds me of Ilya as well as her artwork," Thomas Reynolds agreed, as he looked around; he had nearly all of his wife's paintings gathered in here. "You should visit me more often, you know. With you moving out and your sister just about to, this mansion feels awfully empty. And while I'm aware Miss Crane…"

"This bunny has a name and you can use it, father," Max reminded him politely.

"Of course, I just…" The millionaire hesitated.

"You're angry with her for that I moved out for her," young police officer finished for him and his father couldn't help but chuckled. Kaylee Crane, the second bunny on ZPD and Technical Officer, for last year being his girlfriend and since recently fiancée, made Max's father awfully jealous. Max saw it clearly since the time he introduced them to each other, but he understood.

"Possessiveness is an awful trait," admitted the old Reynolds and then, lowered his sight at Max's badge. "I can't believe that you actually came back there, to ZPD. With what happened in Watering Hole Port, I was certain you never would," he noticed.

"And I never doubted," Max replied. "But, I didn't come here to talk about ZPD. I wanted to invite you for a dinner to Hamada's. You know, that restaurant you never had time to come with us? Kaylee will be there and Anastasia with her boyfriend too. The five of us, whole Reynolds family. What would you say?" Max offered and, as rarely, saw his father smiling genuinely.

"But of course. When?" Thomas Reynolds agreed.

"Next Thursday at 8 pm," he explained and saw his father's expression changing. "Is it alright?"

"It's just I have a very important…" he hesitated, seeing his son's disappointment. "Don't worry, Max. I'll make arrangements and make sure I come. It's my company after all," he promised.

"Cool. Thanks, dad," Max smiled.

"Not a problem. Do you want… some tea? I mean, I'm going to the banquet later, but I think we should have just enough time to…" His father offered a bit awkwardly. "You're not leaving just yet, are you?"

"I guess I can stay for a tea," Max assured and the two of them went to father's office. On their way there Thomas Reynolds tried to recall last time they had this sort of father-son time, but his memory failed him.

* * *

After a visit to his father's house, Max went to market. Kaylee had prepared him a long shopping list of everything they still needed for their new home; mostly all sorts of cleaning supplies they were still missing, food and some things he never would have thought about, like candles, matches or toilet plunger. With the shopping trolley almost full, he stopped at the end of the queue to the checkout, when heard a familiar voice.

"Well, well, well. Max Reynolds, son of CEO of Reynolds Industries and heir to one of the greatest fortunes of Zootopia shopping in a market like an average citizen. What misery has befallen thou?!" Exclaimed the slowly nearing voice. Max turned around.

"Asks the wolf trying to marry himself into the said fortune," he replied and grinned. "Hi, Jason. What you're doing here?" He asked and shook paw of Jason Wolford's, fellow ZPD officer and boyfriend to his sister.

"It was you that gave me your sister's number," Wolford reminded him politely. "And I felt like drinking some soda," he explained waving a small can. "But you look like doing some serious shopping."

"Oh, Kaylee listed the things we still need for the house and well… it's a lot," Max explained.

"That I see," Jason agreed. "Congratulations on your engagement, by the way. I think I haven't got the chance to say it personally."

"Thanks. Quite honestly, I heard so many congratulations in last week that you could be saying it for the third time and I wouldn't even catch it," he explained and both of them chuckled.

"You like to take things fast, don't you? Together for just a year and already put a ring on her. When do you plan wedding?" He wondered, as they started putting Max's buys on the conveyor belt.

"We thought of next April, maybe May. Eight months should be quite enough to organize everything," Max explained.

"And see if you really can stand each other. You know, most relationships fall apart when partners move in together, because you have to be with each other all the time. And you two even work together," Wolford warned him.

"I'll keep it in mind. And how are things with you and Spice?" Max changed the subject.

"Fine. A bit slower," Jason said. "Have you been to your old man's today? Spice said you were going to invite him for Thursday."

"Yeah, he agreed," Max confirmed.

"That's nice. I'd love to know him a bit more. He seems a bit… distanced."

"He kinda is, but recently…" Whatever Max was about to say, he wasn't allowed, as it was their turn to be served. Wolves proceeded to put Max's shopping back into the trolley. Max paid for everything, including Wolford's soda to speed things up, and the two of them went to Max's car. There, they put all the purchases in several cloth bags and into Max's car's trunk. Reynolds thanked him for help and the two of them went each other's way; Max drove toward his new home, while Wolford, living just nearby, walked back to his.

* * *

Max and Kaylee's new house was located on Trip Street, just on the border of Savannah Central and Rainforest District, in what resembled typical middle-class suburbs while located nearly in the heart of the city; a nice and quiet neighborhood of two-story houses with a small lawn in nearly safest part of the town. Max and Kaylee had been looking for a place like this for nearly half a year wishing to live together and they found it, they knew it was their sweet spot. One could wonder why they wouldn't simply move in to Max's father's mansion at 1456 Snowy Hills; with Spice soon to move out, it'd be just three of them living there. The reason was very simple; the monumental mansion designed to overwhelm its guests was too much for Kaylee. Every time she came there, she fell small and insignificant and as beautiful it was, she hated that place. After their first visit there she made it clear that she couldn't imagine living in there. She didn't want servants, priceless paintings on the walls and marble stairs with gilded railings around. Max understood it, half-expected even, and didn't argue. And besides, moving out would serve as an excellent lesson of independence; something that he quickly and painfully realized he had no idea about.

It was already dark when Max parked the car in garage and carried all the shopping inside. He left bags on the kitchen table and looked around; he could smell Kaylee, but didn't see or hear her anywhere.

"Kaylee?! I'm home!" He called out.

"I'm upstairs!" Kaylee shouted back and Max recognized the trembling in her voice; she had just been crying. Wolf dropped his bags and hurried upstairs. He found Kaylee in their bedroom with a toolbox by her and nearly assembled bookcase that she was planning to finish today. Now, though, she was sitting on the floor with her legs crossed. She was wore a white T-shirt with short sleeves making visible her scar on left arm, mark of a shameful incident involving Max and Nightowlers. She was slowly getting over it and had no problem with showing it to the public anymore.

Kaylee turned around as she heard Max coming and smiled seeing him. Max approached her and kissed her on the lips. He sat by her and spread his paw around her gently.

"Hey, darling? What's wrong?" He asked and then, watched her paw; she had one of fingers bandaged.

"It's nothing, just cut myself," she muttered.

"Come on, what is it?" He looked her in the eyes and Kaylee turned head away gently.

"I… I've been thinking. You know, I started assembling that bookcase and realized that… No, it's stupid," she dropped the thought.

"No feeling is stupid, Kaylee, I thought we established that. Come on, what bothers you?" Max encouraged her gently.

"I looked around the room and realized that literary everything here was bought with your money. Whole this house was bought with your money. If I wanted a place like that, I probably wouldn't be even given a loan for it. I keep taking from you, Max. First I took the money to cover my debts, now you bought us a house without me spending even a cent and I know I should be happy because hey, I've got everything I need now. But honestly, I feel awful about it. Everything I do feels so… insignificant compared to the money you keep pumping into this house and whole… _us_ thing," she explained. "It's like we could both quit our jobs and go for eternal vacations just because you have all this money and whether I work or not, it makes no bloody difference…" Her voice trembled and Max hugged her bit stronger.

"It does, Kaylee. Everything you do makes a difference. Without your efforts, there would never be us. It was you that kept us together after the Dungeon. It was you that whenever bad things happened, came to my rescue. You make a difference. And speaking of the money, I figured… once we're done with furnishing and everything, I'll stop using father's money. I'll put those funds on bank account and leave it there to grow. If something bad happens, a disease, an accident…"

"A wedding," Kaylee joked and he smiled.

"When we need to cover a wedding or another disaster, that's when we'll use it. But if there's no need, then I will not touch it. We'll make living with our work at ZPD. What would you say to that?" He asked and saw a gentle smile appearing on bunny's lips. She'd like it that way.

"And if your car breaks? A ZPD officer won't afford its repair," Kaylee worried.

"I should have sold it long ago. It's made for racing and fun, not actual utility. I'll buy something family-friendly with a big trunk instead. I barely managed to pack all today's shopping in trunk anyway," he explained.

"Woah, Max, you're starting to sound like an actual adult. Do you have a fever?" She asked putting a paw to his forehead and both of them chuckled.

"So what do you think about it?" Max asked again.

"That… that really would be nice. And what will you do about all that money?" She wondered.

"Keep covering medicine for FFI with it and keep the rest. We're still fixed on that adoption idea, aren't we? We do have two empty rooms here that will need decorating," he noticed.

"I think we are," Kaylee agreed.

"And our kids wouldn't complain about some money for a new start, would they? For college or their own business," Max noticed. "You know, a small loan of a million dollars for a starter," he giggled and Kaylee laid her head on his chest and breathed deeply. And then, she lifted herself slowly.

"We'd better unpack all those bags downstairs. It's late enough as it is," she suggested and Max nodded.

"What about the bookcase?" Wolf troubled.

"We'll assemble it later. I need also to hang the laundry…"

"I can do it," Max assured and Kaylee watched him suspiciously.

"Do you have any idea how to do it?"

"Nope," he shook his head and grinned shamelessly.

"Then we'll do it together," she decided and he shrugged agreeing. With every day he was learning how many basic domestic duties he had no idea about. Good thing Kaylee did.

The two of them came back downstairs to the kitchen and started unpacking all the stuff Max had bought it. Kaylee was ordering Max around and telling him where to put everything and he didn't mind at all; he'd have not a clue where to put half of those things anyway. He stopped at a dozen of spice packages for a moment. Another dozen, that is.

"That's a lot of them," he noticed.

"For every occasion, so we don't have to go look for them when we find a new recipe," explained Kaylee.

"Well, my cooking this far limited itself to grabbing random things from a fridge, so I don't know much about it," Max explained with a grin.

"I figured so," Kaylee rolled her eyes. In meanwhile, wolf reached for the candles.

"And what did we get these for?" In that moment all the lights died at once. Kaylee, not seeing a thing, froze in place, while Max looked around. His night vision allowed him to see surrounding rather clearly.

"Looks like whole street's out of power," Max noticed.

"And that's what we have candles for. Light them up, will you? I can't see a bloody thing," Kaylee suggested. Max found matches and started lighting up candles and putting them on throughout the kitchen.

"So, romantic candlelit dinner?" Reynolds suggested half-jokingly.

"More like romantic candlelit unpacking and candlelit laundry hanging. But then, yes, romantic candlelit dinner," Kaylee corrected him and Max chuckled agreeing. As they continued unpacking the bags, Max was slowly realizing how different would be the life here, on the Trip Street. Everything he knew, everything he was used to would be no more; no more service, giant mansions, quick cars. He'd have to be responsible from now on. Had the thought terrified him? Yes. But he was going to do everything to rise to the challenge. For Kaylee.

* * *

 _8.18 pm_. _Friday, August 16, 2020_

Once again, Detective Judy Hopps ensured herself that there was not the slightest point in planning Friday evenings. Until few days ago, she was quite sure she would be assisting Anderson's case of a bank robber on run. And yet, now she was now sitting in Nick's car with the fox driving through the town, heading for the banquet mayor was organizing. And it wasn't even Nick's idea's either; it was chief Bogo that delegated them to represent the ZPD instead of him. And so, there they were, dressed in elegant ZPD uniforms, making their way Downtown to waste couple hours of their lives. Judy didn't like the idea of having to confront all those rich and important mammals that would probably either treat her like a ZPD poster girl or a peasant, but there was one good thing to whole the situation; she had Nick and all of his sassiness with her. The bunny decided to glance at her partner, dressed in his elegant uniform with badge proudly shining on his chest; Nick could pretend to be careless or shabby about his clothing, but his uniform was always immaculately clean and today he even lost his usual shades, giving Judy a chance to watch his green eyes.

"Waste of time, isn't it? I mean, there'll be some fancy food and drinks…" noticed Nick as he met her sight.

"I don't think we can drink. We're sort of on duty and you're driving," reminded him Judy.

"I know," the fox agreed. "And we have more interesting things to do, like that bank robbery," he finished and Judy nodded.

"Don't get me started," Judy rolled her eyes. "Eight months without a single interesting case. Eight months. When we get a chance to at least assist in one, we get sent for a party!"

"Yay! Party!" Nick waved his paws comically for a second dropping the steering wheel and Judy giggled. Her partner seemed just as unexcited as she was.

"Will we even know anyone there?" The bunny asked and Nick shrugged.

"There will be mayor, Thomas Reynolds…" He started enumerating.

"Yay!" Judy waved paws with fake enthusiasm.

"Yay. Probably couple celebrities, like your favorite actor, Zack Acorn…" continued the fox when Judy elbowed him with a nervous chuckle.

"You!"

"Didn't you adore him?" Nick asked with amusement.

"Yeah, right, maybe in the middle school. Anyone else?" The rabbit just rolled her eyes. Whatever you tell Nick, it can and will be used against you, she noted in her mind yet again.

"Um… Maybe Duchess will show up?" Guessed Nick.

"Duchess? And who's that?" Hopps gave her partner most peculiar look. There were no monarchies in nearby that she knew of.

"Lady Jennifer Tompkins. My local… crime boss? Sort of?" Fox shrugged. "A former gangster…, but a good one. She didn't murder or kidnap people, just… keeps things in check," he explained, uncertain how to put it. Judy just watched him skeptically.

"And how does she get invited to such places?"

"Oh, she's a respected entrepreneur these days. And a philanthropist," he explained.

"Uh huh."

"You'd be surprised how many entrepreneurs started illegally," Nick chuckled.

"I probably would," Judy agreed. As wonderful place as Zootopia was, it wasn't as crystal clear as she used to believe the first time she arrived here. Nick who knew it from the day one just smiled weakly and turned into a driveway. The gatekeeper waiting there waited for Nick to lower the window and introduce himself and then, guided him to the parking.

"No ID checks," noticed Judy, as fox stopped his car. "Someone could just claim to be us and come here to do some bad things. Having murdered us beforehand, so we wouldn't show up, that is," Judy noticed.

"You have a deep-seated need of an intrigue, don't you?" Nick chuckled as they left the car and headed for the banquet hall.

"Tiny bit, I do," she admitted. The fox and rabbit then were greeted by the doorman that recognized them by uniforms and let in immediately, again without checking ID, much to Judy's silent disapproval. The two of them entered then the banquet hall where the most of guests already were and, as much attention as their uniforms brought among dresses and suits, quickly vanished in the crowd.

"Want some snacks?" Nick asked narrowing at the tables with all sorts of food.

"Give them like five minutes, Nick," scolded him Judy. "We should at least talk to the mayor first. Do you see him anywhere?" She looked around.

"If he carried a pair of stilts, then maybe I'd have a chance…"

"Detectives!" Greeted them a voice from behind that startled both of them. Nick and Judy turned around to see the short raccoon; the new mayor of Zootopia, Henry Ketchikan. He greeted them, shaking their paws enthusiastically. "Chief Bogo promised he'd send some representative officers, but I didn't expect you two!"

"I know I'm not that representative…" Nick noticed and Judy kicked him in foot gently. "But I'll take it as a compliment," he added and mayor chuckled.

"Witty as always, Wilde. And Detective Hopps looks as dazzlingly as usual," the mayor added, probably realizing that he was starting to ignore the bunny. "Now that we've got a chance to talk face to face, tell me, do you need anything at the ZPD? I talk with Bogo a lot, but you, foot soldiers, have quite a different point of view, don't you?" He suggested, sounding like a rich guy pretending to know what he was talking about.

"Well, I'm sure the topic was already brought up, but we seriously need reinventing the sedative serum for tranquilizers," Judy noticed. "Recent research proved that there are species among which there appear to be several-percent minorities highly resistant to those: mostly canines and some ungulates. It will take a lot of money and ZPD budget is really thigh recently due to…"

"Yes, yes, I know. Such research costs lots of money, hence the delay, but we'll send the order to Goldrock Institute next week. Thomas Reynolds promised that they'll…" The mayor stopped as he noticed behind their backs. "Speaking of whom, excuse me, but I'll catch you later, alright? Tom?! Got a moment?!" The mayor apologized and before any of them got to say a word, he was already passing by them and catching up with Thomas Reynolds. Both Nick and Judy followed mayor with sight.

"Was it just me, or did mayor just label you as the smart one and me as a cute one?" Judy noticed after a moment of silence.

"Yes, funny. I always thought it worked the other way around," Nick agreed and his partner giggled, even if the aftertaste remained.

"And then he set us up for his old good friend Thomas Reynolds. Not before giving his institute a valuable contract, that is. One hand washes the other."

"Was that cynical Judy Hopps? I think I can die happy now," Nick smirked.

"But not too quickly, I hope. It would truly be shame," said a melodic female voice from behind and Nick and Judy turned around to see a white wolf approaching. She was of medium height and rather slim, dressed in an azure dress matching her eyes. Or rather an eye, as all that remained after the other one was a long scar from cheek to forehead.

"Good evening. Have we met before?" Judy wondered.

"I and Nicholas did for sure. My name's Jennifer Tompkins," the wolf introduced herself and Judy remembered the name. So that was the Duchess Nick mentioned before.

"Pleased to meet you," Judy shook her paw looking her straight in the eye. There was something disturbing hiding under veil of her only iris, but she couldn't quite put a name on it.

"So am I," assured the Duchess. "I won't be taking much of your time, but I'd like to thank you for the way you dealt with Aveline Hawkes' case back at the National Bank B&E last year. You do remember her? A young vixen with little daughter."

"Yes, we do," Judy assured. She kept teasing Nick regularly to ask her out since case's end. She even saved her number just in case.

"It was only fair," Nick added.

"Indeed. Nonetheless, she sends her thanks and you have my gratitude as well. Don't ever change, you two," she suggested politely.

"We don't plan to," Judy assured and the gangster smiled weakly in reply.

"Hopefully. Have a pleasant evening," she wished her and as they replied, the wolf disappeared in the crowd. Nick and Judy looked at each other in silence.

"That's not how I'd imagine a Happytown gangster," Judy stated with confusion.

"I don't complain. Oppositely to Mr. Big, she never iced anyone," Nick added.

"Or killed in general?" The rabbit asked without much hope.

"Only once, but it's a long story and they had it coming."

"We'll have plenty of time," noticed Judy.

"I don't think so," disagreed Nick, as another important-looking mammal approached the two of them. Even if they hardly knew anyone, everyone knew them. And that was just enough to guarantee they wouldn't be bored that evening.

* * *

 _9.28 pm_. _Friday, August 16, 2020_

Much to Judy's surprise, Nick was completely right about the two of them having no time for long stories; two officers quickly became banquet's main attraction, travelling from one mammal to another like a tennis ball around the court. And it was at a moment of one such pass, when out of sudden everything fell completely dark. Several scared screams erupted, but Nick reacted just as quickly as them, if more soberly.

"Everyone please stay calm!" He ordered firmly and glanced at Judy with smirk; she had her concealed gun prepared in her paw and phone with flashlight on in the other. Just in case.

"Everyone please proceed carefully to the exit and wait outside for further instructions!" She ordered and then, the mayor appeared right next to them.

"No, no, no, why are you…" he tried to protest.

"Someone cut off the power. We have here over hundred prominent mammals in a dark, closed hall. If anyone storms inside and takes hostages, we'll have no way of responding," Judy explained.

"Besides, security is already taking your guests outside," pointed out Nick. The mayor wanted to protest, but he just sighed helplessly realizing they were probably right.

"Of course. Let's go outside," Ketchikan agreed reluctantly. Judy and Nick assisted in the evacuation and left the building as the ones of the last mammals. Couple ZPD patrols were already waiting nearby just in case.

"Carrots, look at that," Nick pointed somewhere far away, but Judy didn't quite catch what he meant at first. Everything was pretty dark, so maybe it was his night vision… wait, everything was dark. Half the district went dark all at once, including hospitals, banks, police stations…

"It's not just us. That's some decent blackout," Judy noticed.

"Tomorrow's going to be a busy day, won't it?" he noticed and bunny shivered realizing that he was right. There was no electricity; no surveillance, no alarms, no light. This meant lots and lots of opportunists committing crimes.

"It certainly will," she agreed and then, mayor approached them.

"Detectives, it turns out we have some malfunction in powerhouse with no perspectives of quick repair. The banquet is over, it seems, but I want you to investigate the thing," declared Ketchikan a bit too loudly for a private conversation; Nick and Judy realized that most guests present were listening carefully.

"I think it's work for engineers, not police officers," Judy noticed carefully.

"Maybe. But if it appears otherwise, then I want you on the case. Now, if you excuse me," the mayor replied and returned to his prominent guests immediately, continuing to bid them goodbyes and apologize for inconvenience. And then, Nick giggled.

"What?" Judy watched him carefully.

"You said you wanted an interesting case. Well, there it is," he explained and Judy chuckled. So it seemed.


	2. Darkness

Chapter 2. „Darkness"

 _9.31 am. Tuesday, August 20, 2020_

During the Friday blackout that lasted for whole night, nothing peculiar happened. No banks or art galleries were robbed, no mammals kidnapped or murdered, nothing particular beyond couple opportunistic crimes occurred. Even the media didn't dwell too much on the whole thing. And then, on Tuesday morning, a call came straight from mayoral office; engineers had found something suspicious at the Pack Street Power Substation and police was requested to investigate.

Nick and Judy stopped at the parking for employees just before the station and walked a muddy path to the substation. There, they were greeted by substation's director, an energetic porcupine in his mid-forties. Other two station's workers were watching them curiously for a moment, but returned quickly to their duties.

"Greetings, officers, I'm sorry to have you troubled. Engineer Gary Spikeston, Substation's director," he introduced himself and shook officer's paws firmly. "And I believe you're Detectives Wilde and Hopps?"

"Correct. What do we have here, Mr. Spikeson?" Judy asked.

"We found source of the blackout; it lies right here," porcupine pointed at nearby table and officers approached it and watched carefully a device lying there; it was some archaic cellphone connected to a small circuit board full of electrical components.

"What is it? Where was it connected?" Nick asked, as trying to unlock the phone, but it required PIN. It seemed like job for Kaylee.

"We found it hidden in the control cabinet yesterday. We almost called a bomb squad at first, but then we figured that if it were to explode, it would have done it to cause a blackout, so we simply removed it carefully," he explained.

"Did you take photos before removing it?" Judy asked and engineer nodded.

"We took photos and then recorded the removal, so that you could recreate how it was initially connected. I have it all…" Porcupine searched his pocket and showed them a pendrive. "Right here," he handed it to Wilde. "You can keep it."

"Thank you," Nick smiled friendly. "So, what exactly happened during the blackout?"

"The blackout started around 9.30, if I remember correctly. We heard a massive electrical discharge and then, everything went black. All our systems were dead and one of the computers burnt. It was that one, but we already had it exchanged," Spikeston pointed at one of the computers.

"Where is the burnt computer now?"

"Utilized, I'm afraid," engineer gave no hopes of retrieving it. "I called the Savannah Station immediately to learn that the fault was on our side, not theirs. We found that we had a contraction that burnt some of our systems and for some reason safety fuses didn't work properly. We sent all of them for evaluation, but it surprisingly turned out positive. Fuses were fine."

"How long did it take you to fix the damage?" Judy wondered.

"Around the time electricity was back. We finished after 5 am."

"And even if you knew of this device back then, would it speed things up?" Fox asked, but engineer shook his head.

"We properly evaluated the damage at the very start, we only didn't know its cause," porcupine explained. "That device gave us a lot of trouble."

"There are no cameras in here, are there?" Nick asked.

"Only on the outside of the building. There never was a reason for cameras inside, as there should be someone here all the time," engineer shrugged.

"Should be?" Nick asked.

"You know how it works. Cigarette breaks, midnight snoozing… Not much happens around here," he explained and officers nodded with understanding.

"We'll need those camera recordings," Judy informed him.

"They're stored by Dogma Security," replied Spikeston. "But I vouch for my employees."

"We will have to have them questioned nonetheless. Would you be able to provide us with a list of mammals that have access here? We'll go out to look around in the meanwhile," Nick pleased.

"Of course," nodded porcupine and two officers left the building. They walked around the fence checking camera locations and searching for any easy ways of entrance or paw prints in the mud, but they found nothing; no wonder, it had been almost a week now and it'd been raining a lot. They returned then to the building, took the evidences and continued to another substation; there were three in total that were attacked in the blackout, all of them exactly this same way, it soon turned out. Next two visits brought no revelations or any helpful leads, so Judy and Nick were soon heading back to the station with disappointment.

"What do you make of it?" Judy asked, as they stopped at the traffic light.

"Whoever installed these things knew exactly how substations work. It's unlikely he had help from inside of station, though. He probably simply entered them in the middle of night when employees were drowsing and installed the device," Nick guessed.

"If he had help there, they'd have removed devices afterwards."

"Precisely," fox agreed. "We'll need to tell all the substations to check for such devices. We don't want any more blackouts."

"And now the most important question; who could have done it?" Judy asked.

" _Cui bono_ , Carrots? Who gained on that blackout?" Nick wondered.

"There were no major break-ins or extraordinary crimes committed during the black out," Judy noticed. "It looks like an accident, but now we know it wasn't."

"True at that," Nick agreed.

"Then maybe it was a test," Judy guessed, glancing at the devices on their backseat. "These are clearly homemade; even circuit boards are blanks that you can buy anywhere. Whatever they're trying to pull off, they had to make sure these things work."

"Then we can expect another blackout any time soon. Another good reason to send the warning," Nick agreed. "We'll handle it in the…" At that moment, Nick's phone rang. Fox watched it carefully; it was an unknown number. He picked it up.

"Wilde on the phone," he said, not in mood for his usual jokes.

 _"Greetings, my name is August Wheeler and I'm a private detective from…"_ A young male voice started introducing himself.

"Wheeler and Marlowe Detective Agency," Nick finished for him, intentionally disfiguring one of the names. Anyone could just call you and pretend to be a detective.

 _"It's Wheeler and Marvin, Detective, but I'm glad you've heard of us,"_ Wheeler passed fox's test. _"I hope you can afford to sacrifice me a moment of your time?"_

"I'm listening," Wilde assured.

 _"I work currently for one of the wealthier citizens of Zootopia. He was robbed of a certain… object oof not much value, but posing a great threat to many mammals. I managed to establish that the object remains in paws of a certain lion from Happytown, but I have no means of retrieving it personally. You, on the other hand, know Happytown and its people; you should be able to do so,"_ the private detective explained without giving a lot of detail.

"Firstly, if the case is too big for you, just give it over to the police instead of having us do the job and earning all the glory yourself. Secondly, I need more details to establish if I can even retrieve this thing. And thirdly, who is your client?" Nick demanded to know. For a moment, the private detective said nothing. Then he sighed with surrender.

 _"I shouldn't be giving you more details over the phone, but… but I believe you deserve to know my client's identity, at least. His name is Thomas Ezekiel Reynolds,"_ the detective explained and made a pause to let the thought sink in. Nick held his moment for a moment in silence as Judy gasped in horror. Thomas Reynolds was the wolf that thirty years earlier had caused death of Nick's father in a car crash and got away without any consequences. The only time they met personally, wolf even dared to mock Wilde bringing out whole the case. And now he decided to call him for help.

 _"Detective Wilde?"_ Wheeler asked uncertainly.

"You're aware of Reynolds and Wildes' shared past, aren't you?" Nick asked.

 _"My client told me about it, yes."_

"Then you should know I couldn't care less about whatever Reynolds lost and I certainly will not be his errand boy," fox replied calmly, but Judy could see that he was boiling with frustration.

 _"Of course, I understand why you'd say so and expected nothing else, Detective Wilde, but please understand the situation. The object Mr. Reynolds lost… it may threaten lives of numerous innocent mammals,"_ private detective argued desperately. _"Recent blackout was merely a prelude, a show of their abilities, and if you don't help us…"_

"Their? Who are they? And how do you know they're involved in the blackout?" Wilde demanded to know. Judy listened very, very carefully.

 _"I… it's not a conversation for the phone. Please come to Mr. Reynolds' residence today at 8 pm and hear us out. Once you know everything, you can do whatever you want with this knowledge; you can help us, tell my client to get lost or deliver to the news to the ZPD. But please, hear us out,"_ Wheeler insisted.

"I will come," Nick decided after a moment of silence.

 _"That's a relief. Thank you, Detective. I know it's not easy for you, given the… circumstances."_

"Whatever. I'll meet you at 8 pm at Reynolds' place," Nick muttered and hung up. He noticed the sight Judy was giving him. "What?"

"Everything alright, Nick?" Judy asked with concern. Her partner could be hiding most of his feelings from everyone around, but she knew better than to assume his unfazed expression implied the conversation didn't affect him.

"No, but I'll handle it," Nick promised. "That Reynolds… He has quite a nerve to ask me for help after everything he has done. I'll go there, even if only to laugh in his face."

"You mean we will go there," rabbit corrected him, but he shook his head.

"No, I meant myself," Wilde disagreed firmly. "Reynolds sounds desperate enough to share his secret with me, but let's not push our luck. Your presence too could make him even more uncomfortable," he argued but of them knew it wouldn't be Reynolds that would feel truly uncomfortable.

"Nick…"

"I'll be alright, Carrots," Nick assured grinning. "Besides… I've got a feeling it'll be better if I come alone. Call it an instinct."

"If you say so," Judy complied, but certainly didn't seem too eager about it. She still remembered the last time Nick was dealing with Reynolds. Fox saw her concerned face and chuckled.

"Come on, don't give me that look," he pleased. "And besides, don't you and Kaylee have plans for the evening anyway?" He pointed out.

"Oh, yeah, we're going for the shopping after work. Kaylee wanted to buy herself some dress since she barely has any and she trusts my fashion sense," Judy explained and half-expected him to joke on her taste.

"Does Kaylee even acknowledge dresses? I think the only time I'm seeing her wearing a one once will be at her wedding," Nick smirked and Judy returned it. It was good to know that he could still surprise her.

"Oh, you're too cruel. She had a lovely dress back at the ZPD anniversary banquet, let me remind you," the rabbit told him.

"You mean the same banquet where Kaylee provoked you into one toast too much and you decided to…" fox started with a mean smile.

"A word more, Nick, and I swear, a flight over a hood will teach you to fasten your seatbelts," Judy warned ominously and he shut up in the middle of the sentence, fastening his seatbelt silently. And then, both of them laughed.

"Seriously, though, be careful about Reynolds. I have no idea what he's planning from you, but…" Rabbit warned her partner.

"Come on, Carrots, we're the pride of ZPD! What could happen to us?" Nick asked with this usual cocky smile of his. Judy wanted to say something, but she chose to cherish this view instead. A view that, as she was going to realize soon, she could not be given to see ever again.

* * *

 _6.58 pm. Tuesday, August 20, 2020_

If Donovan Jacobs was to name one thing that he missed at the most in prison, it would be the lack of his morning ritual; where he could sit in silence with a cup of dark coffee and read the daily newspapers; compare the news, name the tendencies and dig where they seemed intriguing. There obviously were a lot of different disadvantages coming from his prison life, but none of them mattered to him for that the old raccoon was an optimist with one thought shining brightly; his life was soon going to improve yet again.

That evening was like every other time. When the dinner time or "feeding time" as guards named it mockingly, came, the prisoners of block B were carefully escorted to the canteen. Donovan grabbed his plastic tray, cook put on it some of the worst food he had ever seen and he took seat right next to his old friend in crime; a pig named Joshua Morrows with whom he had been working for last ten years.

"Truly, the food here seems worse and worse every week," Donovan complained, playing with beige goo that supposedly was mashed potatoes.

"I wish I could disagree, sir," Joshua muttered. "Any news from Young?" He whispered.

"Everything seems on schedule. Today's the day," the raccoon assured. "We just need to start a fight now," Donovan noticed.

"Right away, sir," Morrows nodded with understanding, as he grabbed his tray. He elbowed a zebra sitting next to him. "Hey, stop smacking your lips, moron!"

"Or what'cha gonna…" zebra was about to stand up, when Joshua smacked him in the head with tray, breaking it. As he swayed, zebra's companion was jumping up to the pig, but Jacobs was already there, hitting him right in the chin. And then, the fight started. About thirty detainees started punching, kicking and jumping to each other's throat with Donovan and Joshua in the middle of the mess. The prison guards, all of them heavy mammals like rhinos and hippos, intervened almost immediately, armed with batons and pepper spray, they methodically pacified all of the convicts, pummeling whoever felt like still fighting. Morrows and Jacobs who were today's fiercest fighters, suffered several punches that were probably going to leave a mark. In the end, all the convicts were pacified very quickly. Most that were just spectators or calmed down immediately after the intervention were escorted back to their cells, but the five that provoked or continued the fights till the end, including Donovan and Joshua, were sent to an isolation ward in the prison basement to cool down a bit.

"I'll deal with you later, raccoon," the zebra threatened Jacobs, as they were nearing their destination.

"You ain't dealing with anyone, punk!" One of the guards escorting them snarled and pushed the zebra inside his dark cell. As Donovan was forced, kicked practically, into his one, he couldn't help but giggle. At long last.

* * *

 _7.49 pm. Tuesday, August 20, 2020_

Judy and Kaylee were done shopping half an hour earlier, but instead of heading straight to their homes, they stopped in one of shopping mall's cafeterias for a dinner. Kaylee was carrying a small bag with a dress she and Judy chose for her.

"You really should have bought that skirt, you know?" Kaylee suggested and sipped an ice coffee she had bought for herself. "Red looks so good on you! And the moment Nick would see you in that, he'd be all yours!" The brown bunny chuckled.

"Kaylee…"

"Wouldn't he? I mean, if we forget that he already is yours…"

"Will you ever drop it?" Judy wondered hopelessly.

"On your wedding day," Kaylee teased her. "You'll see, when I throw that bouquet on my wedding, it's landing straight in your paws."

"And if I marry someone else?" Judy asked.

"And whom else would you marry?"

"I don't know, maybe one day, I'll come upon some handsome, funny and intelligent buck that…" Hopps wondered, but was interrupted by her friend's joyous laughter.

"I don't think so, darling. I don't think so," she shook her head slowly. "Speaking of Nick, do you have any plans for Saturday evening? If you're not onto your new case, that is."

"None that I could think of. Why do you ask?" Judy asked.

"There's this new musical in theatres and Max has four tickets. We thought that you'd want to go with us. You know, a casual double date," Kaylee offered half-jokingly.

"I surely would love to. It's been years since I've seen a musical," Judy agreed. "And I guess Nick won't mind either."

"Tell him I promise it won't be too sappy for him," Kaylee added. "I guess musicals aren't his thing…"

"Oh, there's not such a thing as too sappy for Nick," Judy disregarded it. "He might be pretending he only watches the 'tough guy action movies' and noire criminal stories and he will be grumbling that these musicals are namby-pamby and all, but trust me, deep in his heart he'll love it," Judy promised.

"No way! Nick?"

"Way, Nick. But if you ever tell anyone…"

"My lips are sealed," promised Kaylee, zipping her mouth and throwing away imaginary key. "Max loves musicals, but I guess that's no news at all."

"Yes, we all know that," Judy agreed and took a bite of her sandwich. "So, how's your progress on moving in?"

"Theoretically done and I guess we'll be throwing a housewarming party soon. We just need to assemble remaining furniture, finish painting the children rooms, buy million things we're still forgetting about…"

"You're serious about this family thing, aren't you? Next year's the wedding, then the adoption…" Judy noticed and she had to admit that she was impressed. She certainly wouldn't have expected such quick development when they met over a year ago.

"Yes, we are," Crane agreed a bit uncertainly.

"You sound hesitant."

"Maybe because I'm terrified? One day I and Max just decided that we're doing it and… we're doing it. We have the basic plan, as in what steps to take overall, but besides that, not a clue about anything. About moving out, organizing a wedding, living family life, adopting children, raising them… We're figuring these things out on the run. And I'm scared what happens when we stop having clues," she worried.

"You're taking a grand leap into the unknown, Kaylee. No wonder you don't know everything yet," Judy noticed. "My mom told me once how it was with her and dad. They started early, married at the age of eighteen, bought their house almost immediately afterwards. You know, back in times when houses were actually affordable," Judy smiled weakly. "They had their first kits soon afterwards and for the first few months, mom wasn't sure if she was doing anything right; taking care of the kids, trying to find any time for my dad, doing all the house duties she had on her head… it felt like someone put her in a rocket, launched into outer space and said: _OK, you know what to do!_ But she had not a clue," Judy said and Kaylee giggled.

"And what did she do?"

"And what was she supposed to do? She tried her best. Most things she'd figure out on her own. About those that she couldn't, she would ask friends or family for an advice. Those first few years were a crazy ride to her, but in the end, if you work hard enough and care for your husband and children, things should start working out just fine. And don't worry, there always will be situations that will surprise you or make you feel insecure. My parents certainly weren't prepared for me going to ZPD. In the end, you simply can't let those new events overwhelm you and everything should be fine," Judy explained. "Mom said so, and you know, she raised almost three hundred bunnies; it's got to be truth," she added with disarming honesty, even making Kaylee giggle.

"Well, when you put it that way… I am not denying Mrs. Hopps wisdom," she agreed with a smile. "You'll need to tell that Max too. He's probably even more terrified than me."

"Oh, I'll leave it to you. Seeing that you know what you're doing…"

"Or rather that I think I know what I'm doing," Kaylee corrected her.

"Will calm him down like nothing I could tell him," Judy finished the thought. "Max must be relearning how to live now, huh?" Hopps guessed and Kaylee rolled her eyes.

"Oh, tell me about it. Recently, I had to teach him how to do laundry. But he's eager to learn and he's learning fast. I guess I'll have some practice with him before the actual children," she joked.

"And if you have any problems, you can always call me and Nick," Judy offered.

"Yeah, but for that to work, you need to marry and get yourself some kits fast, or we're gonna leave you behind," Kaylee explained with a smirk.

"Oh, will you ever…" And then, lights in the mall went dark all at once. Rabbits heard some panicked calls and screams in distant, but someone, most likely a security officer, managed to calm them down.

"Another blackout," muttered Judy, as she turned on a flashlight in her phone and reached for her tea. There was some of the drink still left, so she drank it all.

"You're not going to investigate the source?" Kaylee asked, confused.

"I am, but we don't need to hurry. If they caused this blackout like the previous one, then we won't find anything useful at the power station anyway. Could you check which one is responsible for the mall, by the way?"

"I'm on it. Are you going to call Nick?"

"No, he's at a meeting and I can handle it," Judy refused. "We'd better go, before the evacuation starts and we get stuck in the crowd," she pulled her sleeve and two bunnies rushed toward the exit. They left rather quickly and when one of the security guards tried to stop them, considering their haste suspicious, they just waved their badges in front of his face. They went to Kaylee's small, silver car.

"I've got it. Tundratown Power Station number 2," Kaylee located their target and turned on the GPS navigation and headed there. She was driving much more carefully than Max, keeping to speed limits.

"Nick's at a meeting? What sort of?" Crane wondered.

"He was invited by Max's father. I have not a clue why. He claimed it was something important. And not personal," Judy explained.

"Nick must have been thrilled," Kaylee noticed, well aware of Wilde and Reynolds history. "It's shame. His night vision could help a lot now."

"I doubt if it will change anything. There weren't any traces outside the previous power station. I worry more about what they can do with half of Tundratown losing power," Judy expressed her concerns.

"Did you alarm ZPD?"

"No need, Wolford wrote me that they're already on alert, sending out additional patrols. If anything big comes up, we'll know of it right away," Judy explained.

They reached the power station ten minutes later, but like Judy expected, found nothing new in there; this same home-made device that burnt the previous computers, no traces or suspicious trespassers in recent past. It was a dead end. Judy called ZPD so someone with actual equipment would secure the place and as soon as officers came, two bunnies handed it to them and came back to their houses. Just before going to her bed, Judy called Nick, but heard no reply. Assuming that he was still dealing with Reynolds, she went to sleep.

"We'll have a lot of work to do tomorrow," she muttered to herself before drifting away.

* * *

 _8.02 pm. Tuesday, August 20, 2020_

At the moment of blackout, Nick Wilde was parking his car in front of Theodore Reynolds' mansion, only now realizing how badly he hated this pompous manor. He walked up way too steep stairs and knocked on way too high door. Hearing no reply, he opened the door and walked in. It was completely dark in there.

"Another blackout?" He muttered to himself. "Mr. Reynolds! Hello!" He called him, but heard no reply. Instead, he smelled something most disturbing. He reached for his tranquilizer gun; oppositely to Judy who was shopping in her casual outfit, he decided to visit the millionaire in police uniform; their relations were supposed to be strictly professional, after all.

Nick followed the disturbing smell to the hall of paintings of Ilya Reynolds, publicly known as Jackson Haddock. But the moment he opened the door and saw what lied in front of him, he understood everything. Or so did he believe.

* * *

 _8.05 pm. Tuesday, August 20, 2020_

Donovan Jacobs wasn't sleeping that night, but if he were, a sudden tremor followed by noise of rumbling concrete would have woken him up immediately. It certainly had woken up other detainees that started shouting and cussing, but Donovan hardly cared about it. He saw a cone of light and a sheep head in with flashlight sticking out of a hole in the ground, estimating the surrounding carefully.

"N… no al… larm," he looked around and his sight stopped at the prisoner. "M… Mr. J…Jacobs, we have to go," stuttered the sheep. He couldn't be older than twenty-five. The raccoon smiled weakly and followed the sheep into hole in the floor. Underground, he found himself in quite a spacious cave, but quickly understood its tremendous for him size; his friend and partner in crime Joshua Morrows who was a pig had to fit in here just as well.

"T…this w…way," instructed them the sheep, lighting the narrow way toward straight forward.

"Is it long walk?" Donovan asked curiously and barely saw sheep nodding.

"Y… yes, it is. The t…tunnel has two miles," explained the sheep. "W… we should hurry. M…my name Lucas, b… by the way, L…Lucas Wool," their rescuer introduced himself.

"Donovan Jacobs and this is Joshua Morrows, but you already know that," introduced them the raccoon and sheep bobbed his head nervously. They could clearly see how stressed he was and a thought that he was young and inexperienced crossed Jacob's mind.

They walked the tunnel for over half an hour until they saw a dark curtain leading to the fresh air. It was cold outside, just like you'd expect it from Tundratown in the middle of night, but there already was a car waiting for them; a young female pronghorn dressed in black was leaning against it, toying with her car keys.

"Welcome back to life, Mr. Jacobs, Mr. Morrows," she greeted them. Her cold, confident tone and even colder azure eyes told the old raccoon that oppositely to her partner in crime, she wasn't nervous one bit. And certainly not someone to be underestimated.

"Yeah, it's good to be back," Joshua Morrows agreed. "And your name is…"

"Scarlet. Scarlet Calveit. Get in the car, we need to hurry. Lucas, seal the exit," she ordered them around, opening the car door for two runaways. As Donovan and Joshua got inside, they watched the sheep closing exit with some heavy metal chunk and covering it with snow. Only now they saw Scarlet's long knife handing on the back of her belt.

"Meh, Olivier had a bigger one. What do you say about them, sir?" Wondered Joshua.

"That sheep's terrified to the bone, but pronghorn… she might be an issue," stated the old raccoon watching the grate separating front and back seats of the car. Just in case they tried to outsmart them? Now, that was predicting.

"Are we running away now? With all your assets frozen, we can't pay them off anyway…"

"For now, we play along. They shouldn't know about the accounts as the news weren't made public," replied the raccoon. "We'll get away on the first opportunity. They're just a bunch of kids and I doubt if they have more than three, four people. Besides…" Donovan wanted to say something more, but saw Scarlet and Lucas approaching the car. The pronghorn took driver's seat while sheep sat next to them. Scarlet started the car and with screech of tires, they got away.

"Where to now, Miss Scarlet?" Wondered Donovan.

"You're going to meet with Spencer Young and discuss details of the payment," Scarlet explained. "And once the business has been conducted, everyone goes their own way. Nice and quiet like it's supposed to be done."

"Is it your first break-out? You're rather young for this profession," noticed Joshua.

"The properly aged for this profession tried to bust you out by attacking the armed transport of prisoners. We deal with such matters more thoughtfully," explained Scarlet coldly.

"That tunnel didn't seem like an amateur job. Quite oppositely," praised them Donovan.

"Lucas is a construction engineer by education. With enough recourse, building a tunnel long enough wasn't much of a problem," Scarlet replied. Her back mirror was aimed straight at Donovan Jacobs, her cold blue eyes drilling into his head. She already knew that they were going to try and outsmart them sooner or later.

"Zootopia University? It is one of the best in the world," noticed Jacobs with admiration.

"Y…yes, s…sir," nodded Lucas.

"And you, Scarlet? An engineer too?" Guessed Joshua.

"Automatics and robotics. And I insist that you stopped patronizing us," Scarlet replied tersely. Donovan bobbed his head once.

"But of course, Miss Scarlet."

* * *

 _10.37 pm. Tuesday, August 20, 2020_

Within next half an hour, they made it to Rainforest District. Scarlet parked the car in a well-hidden garage. It seemed like a fine place to disappear and certainly somewhere where ZPD wouldn't come upon accidentally.

"This way," the pronghorn guided them to a flat connected with garage. It was spacious and well lit, even if hardly having any furniture. In what seemed to be living room and certainly was the most spacious one of the flat, there was someone waiting for them, leaning against the wall casually. Donovan recognized him to be a fox and for a terrifying second certain it would be no one else than Nicholas Wilde; he was just as thin, but muscular as him, was of the same height and had nearly identical green eyes. But a second more was enough to spot slight differences; darker fur, bitten left ear, different sort of spark in his eyes. He was dressed in an elegant shirt and jeans, at his forearm he noticed not too expensive, but elegant watch. The fox bounced off the wall with a sly, foxy grin. He first kissed Scarlet on the lips tenderly and then, shook paws with Donovan and Joshua.

"Greetings. My name's Spencer Young and it is pleasure to host you," he assured charmingly. Even despite being a fox, he seemed so trustworthy with his pleasant smile and general attitude that Donovan almost fell for it for a moment.

"Pleasure to meet you, Spencer," assured Donovan. "You gathered a team of real professionals here," he admitted, looking around the room. There was no furniture in there except for some object covered in a white cloth behind fox's back.

"Yes, you already know Lucas Wool and my love, Scarlet Calveit," he introduced them, as the two stood by him; Scarlet on his right and Lucas on left. And then, they heard steps from behind and both Donovan and Joshua turned back to see a huge grey wolf behind them. The newcomer greeted them with a bloodthirsty smile, as locking the door behind them ominously.

"Hello there," he said passing between them and standing next to Scarlet. Donovan noticed that his black shirt had fresh stains of blood on it and he started feeling nervous. If things went wrong, they could perhaps handle the three of them, but certainly not that mountain of a wolf. Joshua clenched his teeth, suddenly realizing it could turn out to be a really ugly confrontation.

"And that's the last member of our team. Gerard Greymane, our bruiser," introduced him Spencer. "Now that you know everyone, I assume we can progress to the business talk," Spencer said casually, as if not noticing the tension in the room.

"But of course. You'll want payment for your service. About it, I…" started the raccoon.

"You're a mammal of your word, aren't you?" Asked Spencer.

"But of course," assured Donovan Jacobs.

"So am I, Mr. Jacobs, so before you say a word, let us establish one thing. I despise liars," the fox said almost threateningly.

"So do I," replied the raccoon.

"So you must realize that you should not lie… or have lied, for the matter of speaking. Because if you did, then given the seriousness of situation and investments we've made this far, I would have no other choice than to do…" The moment Spencer Young raised his paw, Donovan saw that the grey wolf was already prepared to pounce with his teeth showing; yellow and stained with blood. Raccoon was certain that there was going to be blood shed and nearly sure that it was going to be one of Joshua Morrows. But before old raccoon managed to protest, it was too late.

"This," said Spencer, as snapping his fingers. Joshua, acknowledging situation immediately, instinctively stepped back expecting the wolf to lung toward him. What he would not expect though was that the wolf would dash behind both Spencer and Scarlet's back instead. And what Joshua wouldn't even anticipate, was that he would grab throat of Lucas Wool, lock jaws violently, lift the panicked sheep in air despite his wheezing screams, lacerate him like a savage dog tears apart a plushy toy and then, throw his bloody carcass against the wall.

"What the!" Donovan shouted, jumping back with horror and Spencer smirked.

"Poor Lucas tried to back out from the heist. He already had a train ticket to Lake City bought and an anonymous letter to ZPD with a touching confession. He thought he could outsmart me," explained the fox not even gracing his victim with a single sight.

"I'd… I'd… n… never," stuttered weakly the sheep. Donovan was surprised that he was still alive and able to utter even a word.

"But you did, Lucas. Gerard, if you don't mind," Spencer pleased. The wolf licked his teeth slowly and then, crashed sheep's throat with a single bite and threw the body right at Joshua's feet with a playful smirk. The sheep's wool, red with his own blood, almost made the pig vomit, but Spencer or Scarlet didn't even twitch. Donovan realized that this execution had been planned all along. And suddenly, his lack of money terrified him even more than before.

"Let's now talk business, Mr. Donovan," suggested Scarlet, getting over whole incident like nothing had happened. "You promised to pay five million dollars for breaking you out of prison."

"Affirmative," he muttered weakly.

"Now, we know you did so when you still had access to your assets. We also know that police has secured all your accounts as of recently," continued Spencer. Donovan didn't even twitch. If they knew of it, then they had other plans toward him than just killing him like that sheep.

"How do you see me paying for the service, then?" He asked.

"Tell me, how many of Haddock's paintings are known to exist?" Spencer asked, walking over to the object in the back.

"Fourteen of hyperrealism decreasing into abstractionism and twelve abstract Numbers. All except for Number 8 that lies in National Museum are currently in paws of Thomas Reynolds," Donovan answered.

"You're technically correct, as of…" Spencer checked the time. "…three hours ago. But what if I told you…" Spencer walked over to the object in the back. "That as of now… there exist only two. Number 8 and…" the fox grabbed the cloth and unrevealed what lied beneath. Donovan stared at it with astonishment. It was a painting. Haddock's painting, precisely, and Jacobs recognized it immediately.

"Moonlight…" He whispered with disbelief. "What have you done?" He asked.

"I?" Spencer shrugged carelessly. "I merely seized the opportunity delivered by Detective Wilde, my dear partner in crime," he smiled mysteriously. "I know you can sell such a painting for some considerate money. I bet its price will spike in a few days when the news of what Wilde had done will spread. We did the dirty job, you find the seller, we share 80-20 in our favor. That's the deal. Are you in?" Spencer offered.

"70-30," bargained the raccoon.

"75-25 and you'll have your revenge on Hopps and Wilde. My last word," replied the fox immediately, extending his paw. Donovan pretended to hesitate, but not for long. The deal was more than satisfying.

"Let it be. I promise to cooperate with you, Spencer, boy. And as a mammal of my word with great profits in near future, I aim to fill this promise," he agreed, shaking fox's paw. Joshua Morrows sighed with relief and Spencer Young grinned triumphantly.

"Alright, then! Let's get to work!" He clapped with his paws enthusiastically. "Gerard, take care of our poor Lucas and clean up the room," he ordered.

"I hate bleach," muttered the wolf.

"No less than you'll hate prison, so I want the room clean," replied Spencer. Gerard just shrugged.

"Sheep don't even taste good," he muttered with surrender, kneeling by his victim.

"And for you, Mr. Javobs, Mr. Morrows, your rooms are on the right; you'll find there all that you might need. If anything's missing, call me. You'll have my number in phones waiting for you in your rooms. I and Scarlet will part with you for now, but we'll leave Gerard here. I hope you'll get along," Spencer said and Gerard sent their guests a smile that made Joshua feel creeps.

"But of course," Donovan replied emotionlessly and he and Joshua backed out from the room. Spencer and Scarlet in meanwhile walked back to the car. The fox took the driver's seat and the two drove away from the hideout in Rainforest District.

"You avoided jam cams?" Spencer asked and Scarlet rolled her eyes.

"Of course, I did. I took the way we planned before with not a single camera on the way. We have whole night before they find out Jacobs is missing. Or maybe even whole next day, if guards are lazy," she assured.

"And the Reynolds part was done with not a single mistake either. Perfect," Spencer kissed his girlfriend on cheek. "So now, according to the plan. You take care of Hopps."

"Observe, report, do not involve," Scarlet Calveit nodded. "And you'll be back at house?"

"Mhm, just in case ZPD pays a visit. Someone from Student Circle of Robotics could lead them to me given the black-out devices. As plenty specialists as there were, I was the one that played with burning servers. And I'm a fox. ZPD loves blaming foxes," Spencer noticed.

"Even their own," Scarlet added coldly and fox smirked.

"Especially their own," he agreed and stole another kiss from her. Spencer Young couldn't help grinning. He was so excited.


	3. Doubt

Chapter 3. „Doubt"

 _7.02 am. Wednesday, August 21, 2020_

That morning Judy overslept; she woke up past 7 am and for some reason her alarm clock was off.

"I forgot; the blackout," the rabbit muttered and checked the phone for time. And then, she saw five missed calls and a text message from Nick, all around 1 am when she was fast asleep. She opened the text, but it was just two words.

"Ask Popocatépetl?" She read with confusion. Nick did happen to leave her enigmatic messages once in a while, but she'd usually have at least a clue what they could mean or where to look for answer. Now, this one…

"I'll just ask him," she decided. The rabbit made herself a quick breakfast and by the time she ate it, it was already 8 am; Nick should be there any moment now, picking her up with his car and driving the two of them to the ZPD. But the fox wasn't coming. At first, Judy was waiting in her flat. At 8.10, she came outside and stood where Nick would usually stop the car. At 8.15, she was already a bundle of nerves. For three years of their work together, Nick was never this late. Not even once.

"Maybe he just overslept?" Judy muttered and decided to call him, but there was no reply. "And forgot to charge his phone?" She added, a bit nervously now. It didn't suit him at all. And then, she saw a bus approaching; it would take her straight to ZPD. She was going to be late anyway now, as there was no way she'd be reaching ZPD in ten minutes, but there probably was no point waiting any longer. She ran up to the bus stop, boarded it and bought a ticket. She wrote then a text to Nick so that he wouldn't wait for her in vain.

Judy made it to ZPD nearly fifteen minutes late and was greeted by rather troubled Clawhauser.

"Hi, Hopps! The roll call is already on!" He warned her.

"I know, I overslept. Have you seen Nick anywhere?" She wondered, but chubby cheetah just shrugged.

"I thought he'd be with you," he replied. "Something happened? Except for blackout, that's it?"

"I don't know," Judy muttered nervously. "I gotta go to the roll call. Take care!" She waved him and hurried to the room where chief Bogo was instructing officers on their duties. Even if she and Nick already had their own case, they would come there by the rule. But as she made it there, people were already leaving. As they passed by her, she looked inside to see that officer Riley Fangmeyer was still sitting there, taking instructions from chief Bogo.

"There you are, Hopps. Just in time," the water buffalo invited her and she walked in carefully. He didn't seem angry with her being late, but… troubled by something far bigger than her or Nick's absence.

"Yes, sir. Sorry I'm late, but…" Judy took a seat right next to the tigress.

"You and Fangmeyer drive to Flurry Street 1456 now. Fangmeyer will explain you the details on the way," Chief ordered and Judy felt creeps across her back. 1456 Flurry Street was the address of Reynolds residence and then, he had said not a word about Nick's absence; it couldn't be a coincidence.

"Y… Yes, sir," Judy bobbed her head once.

"Good. You're dismissed now," the buffalo grabbed his file and left the room. Fangmeyer and Hopps walked to tigress's police car in tense silence. They only spoke when Riley started the car and left the parking.

"What's going on?" Judy asked with an awful feeling that she'd prefer not to know.

"Do you know where Wilde is now?" Fangmeyer asked.

"Probably in his house, sleeping. What's going?" Judy repeated her question. The tigress took a deep breath.

"We have a homicide at Thomas Reynolds' residence. Wolford drove his girlfriend home at the morning and she found the body," she explained and Judy felt creeps.

"Whose body?" The bunny asked.

"Male's. Not a clue, he was too shaken up to say. All he said was that he needs to get the two of us at the place. Wilde's car is parked in front of the residence." The news struck Judy with power of a lightning. She started adding facts; Nick came to Reynolds' residence a day before. His car was still there. And whoever died, Wolford must have known him, if he was so shaken up that he couldn't even name them…

Fangmeyer opened her mouth to say something, but she realized that whatever she'd tell her, would be an empty promise now. So instead, she turned on the siren and sped up rapidly. They drove the rest of way in silence.

The gate to residence was closed, but there were two police officers at it; after a short introduction where Fangmeyer and Hopps learnt that they from Tundratown and that there were already CSI officers at the place securing everything, they were allowed to drive in. Fangmeyer stopped her car right next to Nick's just in front of the mansion. That was where Wolford was waiting for them. He looked just awful.

"Hey, girls," he muttered.

"Hey, partner. What's going on?" Fangmeyer asked.

"The CSI guys are already at the scene doing their job. Come on, I'll walk you there," Jason Wolford suggested and opened door for them. He did not dare to look Judy in the eyes. As they walked in, a smell of smoke struck them.

"What happened? Was there fire?" Judy asked.

"Yes, in the Haddock's gallery. That's where the body is," wolf confirmed. "And that's how we found it. I drove Spice home at the morning. We came inside and smelled the smoke. We followed it and made it to the Haddock's gallery and there… we saw it," he explained. "I checked that he was dead, calmed down Spice, put her on the couch to cool down and called the police and then, chief."

"Was there no one that would find it earlier? Any service, cook or…" Fangmeyer wondered.

"They should be, but they didn't come today. We still don't know why," Wolford shrugged. "Here we are." They stopped before the door to the gallery. Judy, who for whole the conversation didn't say a word, felt that her heart was hammering, as she thought of what she was going to see. And then, wolf pushed the door gently and it revealed the gallery or rather, what remained of it. All the pictures had been taken off the walls, stacked up in a huge pile and then, burnt down; all that remained were charred remains of the frames. Next to them, in a dried pool of blood, there lied body of an arctic wolf. Judy felt relief realizing that it wasn't Nick, but then recognized the victim.

"That's… Thomas Reynolds," she whispered and Wolford nodded.

"Yes, it is. Someone killed him in a brutal fight and burnt all the pictures in the room. Practically priceless pictures, mind you, which excludes robbery as a motive. And then, there's this," Wolford guided them carefully not to disturb work of CSI agents that were all over the place and took them to the only not burnt picture that lied next to Reynolds' body; it was "Number 3", the one that a year earlier had been recovered by Nick and Judy from Donovan Jacobs' paws only to be bought by Thomas Reynolds. It was almost undamaged, except for a single word written on it with blood:

 _MURDERER!_

"Dear…" Judy whispered.

"Pretty gruesome, isn't it?" Called a harsh voice from behind. All the three of them turned around to see a horse in his late fifties, dressed in casual brown trousers and a white shirt. His badge was hanging loosely on a dark strip, in hoof he had a burning cigarette. Right behind him, there was standing a young female black panther in usual officer uniform.

"And you are?" Judy watched him carefully.

"Detective James Sullivan from District 18, Tundratown. This is my partner, Victoria Hamilton. Like Officer Wolford has perhaps mentioned to you, this is our district so we're taking the case over," he explained. "I'd like to ask you three to leave the room and not interrupt forensic experts their jobs, could you?" He invited them politely but firmly and none of them really had arguments to discuss with him. The five of them left the crime scene and Victoria Hamilton closed the door behind them.

"We were at the scene first, Sullivan, so…" Wolford started.

"You're not taking the case, Wolford, there's an obvious conflict of interests. The victim was your girlfriend's father. And neither is Hopps, for quite the same reason. She knew Reynolds well and is friends with his son," the horse riposted.

"He's right about that," Fangmeyer agreed with surrender. "We need to hand it someone from the outside."

"I'm glad that we agree. Now, I'd insist that you leave, Wolford, Fangmeyer. The place is already crowded as it is. And please take young Miss Reynolds with you; we don't want her wandering around either and I will certainly not bother her today. Hopps, before you go, I'd like to steal you for a moment," he ordered them and the three Downtown officers, realizing that they couldn't really do much about it, complied.

"We'll wait for you in my car," Fangmeyer said and Judy thanked with a nod. When two officers left, Sullivan ordered his partner to stay at the crime scene while the two of them followed a trail of bloody footprints; rather slim, long and with three toes each. Judy tried not to think of them as Nick's feet.

"I hope I didn't make too bad of a first expression, Detective Hopps," the horse started. "You're surely aware me taking the case over from you guys is necessity."

"To the point, Detective Sullivan. You wanted to speak with me for a reason," she suggested.

"Do you know where your partner currently is?"

"Why is everyone so curious of it?!" Judy asked angrily and then, she realized what he meant. Her ears dropped immediately. "No, you don't think he's the…"

"He is the most probable suspect at the moment. We found Wilde's car in front of the mansion; given the tire trails in the snow, it must have been there all night. The wounds all over Reynolds' body come from a small canine somewhere around size of a fox; they were delivered by someone very strong or infuriated, given how deep they are. The most probable cause of death is bleeding out, mostly due to throat torn apart with bite of fox jaws. A nasty wound, really. And then, we have all those burnt pictures of Jackson Haddock and the one with a message written with blood. That came from someone holding quite a grudge against the victim, didn't it? And we both know Nicholas Wilde holds quite a grudge against Reynolds for his father's death."

"There's a thousand mammals with a motive to kill…"

"But hardly as many foxes, Hopps," interrupted her Sullivan. "There are strands of fox fur in that blood writing on the picture. We are currently following a fox's footprints of blood that will lead us outside…" then, the old horse opened the door and showed her trail in the snow, nearly fully covered now. "And to the road, where they vanish suddenly. And first of all, we found a police plaque with his name together with shreds of his uniform in Reynolds' clenched paw and his tranquilizer in corner of the room. Wilde was there that night," horse explained and as much as weight of evidence shocked Judy, she shown not a sign of it.

"Did you check surveillance recordings?" She asked instead.

"Last night's blackout caused a voltage spike that burnt all the computers connected to this house's power grid. Conveniently to him, it seems that no recordings survived," Sullivan replied. "I know what you're thinking. He'd never do it on his own. And I believe you; I don't think he planned it. This all was surely just an unfortunate series of events. He came here for quite another reason, maybe even upon Reynolds' invitation. They were talking. And then, something went wrong, before or after the blackout. They started arguing, then fighting. Maybe it was Reynolds that hit him first. Maybe Wilde was defending himself at the start. But then, something cracked in him. He hurt Reynolds, burnt those pictures. He wrote the message. And as blood mist dropped, as he realized what he had done. He tried to call you at first, but you were already sleeping, so he decided to run. Wherever he is now, Hopps, he's wounded and terrified. We need to find him, before any harm comes to him. If we want to solve this case, that is," Sullivan explained with encouraging, warm voice. It was so easy to trust his version of events. It seemed so reasonable and simple, but…

"Nick wouldn't do that," Judy said again.

"You have no idea how many times I've heard it in last twenty years. And if you're going to say that he's different or better than that... I appreciate the faith, but Wilde was here and he…" Sullivan assured patronizingly.

"I know he was and it's not my point. Nick wouldn't have left the writing like this. Even if he'd have killed Reynolds, he wouldn't have left the message indicating his fault so clearly. He wouldn't have left the car and risked escaping Tundratown on foot in the middle of night, wounded and in shredded uniform. He could either bleed out or freeze," the rabbit argued firmly. "I know my partner better than anyone and I know that even if he would commit such an atrocious crime… he'd be wiser than leaving this many trails," Judy explained. "He's better than what you saw there in… in every aspect of this word," she declared and it left Sullivan wondering for a while.

"Then he was perhaps in shock. That would explain the clumsiness. But, those are the discussions for when we arrest him. And until…"

"Arrest?!" Judy protested.

"Yes, Hopps, arrest. I know that you have a history of letting criminals like Rockfield or Bayes slip, but some of us like their job done the way it should be. Wilde is the main suspect here. We'll arrest and question him. Then, we'll decide if he's guilty," Sullivan explained coldly. He couldn't know that Judy and Nick actually let Rockfield go, as the coyote was more a victim of circumstances than an actual criminal, but it still stung painfully.

"But you've already found him guilty," Judy muttered clenching her fists.

"Perhaps, but you have to start somewhere and clearly, your sympathy for that fox clouds your vision. That's why I'm leading the investigation, not you. Don't get me wrong, Hopps, I understand that it's hard for you and it's no easier to me. But don't forget that we're on the same side here," Sullivan replied. Judy stared at him coldly, huffed angrily and turned back on her heel, leaving him without a word. But then, he called her.

"One thing more, Hopps," horse said and she stopped and turned around slowly.

"Yes?"

"He tried calling you, didn't he? At what time did he make a last phone call?" The horse asked.

"A bit past 1 am," she replied coldly.

"Did he record any messages? Left any clues of his current whereabouts?"

"No," the rabbit lied.

"And do you know why he'd come to Reynolds' yesterday?"

"Just ask him yourself when you catch him," she muttered angrily, turned around without a word and left the old horse, ignoring another calling. Hopps walked through the Reynolds mansion passing by CSI agents without a word with her blood boiling and mind bombarded by million thoughts. _They dared to accuse Nick! Someone murdered their friend's father and Sullivan dared to accuse Nick! How could he?! Even if Nick had a reason, even if he had been there at the time, he would have never hurt an innocent mammal, even Thomas Reynolds! Nick was a hero of this town and they treated him like a common crimi…_

"Are you alright?" Fangmeyer asked, interrupting her train of thoughts. Judy didn't even realize when she made it back to tigress' car, but she saw that her paws were shaking and eyes watery. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry.

"Do you think Nick did it?" Judy asked bitterly.

"For now I know nothing, so I'm trying not to assume a thing," Riley replied as starting the car. "We only had a glance at the crime scene. It's too easy to get wrong ideas from just that," she responded cool-mindedly.

"If only Sullivan thought the same," bunny muttered.

"Don't worry, he's a fine cop, even if he doesn't like screwing around. He'll find out what really happened sooner or later, no matter what he is assuming now," Fangmeyer assured, but Judy didn't seem convinced. She looked around the car to realize that someone was missing.

"Where are Wolford and Spice?" She wondered.

"Wolford took her to his flat. They're both still shaken up; it was her father after all," Fangmeyer explained.

"And did anyone call Max? He has to know before media hear of it and…" Judy worried.

"Leave it to Wolford. He promised he'd call Max to come to him. It'll be best if they tell him the news personally," the tigress explained and Judy nodded with appreciation. "And what about you? Where should I take you, to your house or…"

"Take me to the station. I need to talk with the Chief."

"You're not getting that case, you know? And Sullivan won't let it go either," the tigress warned.

"I know and that's not what I've been thinking of," Judy assured. No, she knew she wouldn't get the official investigation with her partner being involved in the case. But she also knew exactly what to do.

* * *

 _9.45 am. Wednesday, August 21, 2020_

"Can you repeat yourself, Hopps?" Chief Bogo was staring at the rabbit suspiciously, as if she was trying to pull off some crazy huatle right in front of him. Well, she kind of was.

"I'm asking for two weeks of a leave on demand. I still have unspent vacation from last year, so it shouldn't be a problem. Without my partner I can't work on the black-out case anyway, so someone else should get it," Judy argued calmly, quite aware that her stoicism must have triggered a couple of alarms in her boss's head. "And with Nick involved in the murder, I should remove myself from the picture. Once the news go viral, the journalists will be all over me anyway."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Bogo asked slowly.

"I'll visit my family in Bunny Burroughs and come back as soon as you find my partner. I can't be interfering with investigation there," Judy explained and she sounded very reasonable. Even too reasonable given the situation.

"And it's not some clever scheme to get you on the case?"

"No, sir, I'm aware I won't be allowed to help with it and I don't think I'd be able to work normally with him somewhere out there," bunny pointed out and her boss had to give it to her; she was making a lot of sense. Still, Judy knew that he didn't believe her; she simply wasn't the kind to leave her partner in such danger and Bogo knew that.

"I'll give you a leave and expect you to leave the town this evening," he decided, as staring at her suspiciously.

"Thank you, sir," she smiled warmly, jumped off her chair and headed for the door.

"Hopps!" The buffalo called her and Judy froze and turned around slowly.

"Yes, sir?"

"You're an amazing cop with decades of flawless service to go. Try not to throw your career away over a mammal you might have misjudged," he suggested carefully and Judy felt her blood boiling. _Might have misjudged?_ _What was that supposed to mean?!_

"With all due respect, sir, I'm not the one misjudging him. And if I were to throw away even whole centuries of a flawless career for Nick, then I'd do it without a second thought," she replied. Knowing that Chief and everyone that tried to take this case reasonably had a right to doubt in him, it still hurt her more than anything.

"Just don't do anything stupid," Bogo advised her.

"I will not, sir," she assured as leaving Chief's office. With her leave starting today and case of black-outs given to other officers, Judy Hopps left the station and headed for a bus stop. She noticed a small silver car that had been following her for whole that morning; she could bet those were officers from Tundratown following her in hopes of her leading them to Nick. What a waste of time. Judy unlocked her phone and made a call.

" _Hey, Jude! What'cha doin'?"_ Asked a young male voice.

"Hey Alan, little brother. You're off work today and tomorrow, aren't you?"

" _Yup. And day after tomorrow too. Wanna drop in? I'm still looking forward to rematch with Nick, you know?"_

"Thanks, but I'll need your help. It's very important," she said with a soft smile. Obviously, her brother, a firefighter and average citizen, still had no idea that Nick was missing.

" _How can I help you, Jude?"_

"Buy a ticket for Zootopia Express to Bunny Burroughs. And, you don't happen to have a spare suitcase?"

" _I still should have one. What do you want me to do?"_ Alan wondered. No "tell me what's going on, first" or "will it be dangerous or illegal", just "what do you want me to do". It really uplifted Judy's heart as she was explaining the situation and her plan to her younger brother. And as she was done, it encouraged her even more that Alan did not hesitate for a second if what they were doing was right. It was really good to have a brother like that.

* * *

 _10.20 am. Wednesday, August 21, 2020_

To Max, this day started no special at all. After the roll call, he and Victor Barnes took their car for a patrol across the Downtown. As usually, radio played jazz music from Barnes' favorite station, as the two watched streets in silence. A youngster wolf and old sheep; rather unlikely mix that started not so good, but turned out just fine. From last year's point of view, Max was happy that he was assigned this grumpy, silent sheep. He had taught him, a wolf generally liking to take things head on, restrain and patience. Not once did Barnes' cool head save them and Max was slowly learning it too; thinking things through before rushing in, keeping in mind that you're no action movie heroes. It was just what he needed; someone to guide his youthful energy and fervor.

"It's rather busy today," noticed the wolf watching the nearby store. Crowds were a bit bigger than usually; due to recent blackouts, some apparently decided to gather supplies just in case.

"But quiet," agreed Barnes.

"Yeah. It may be that we have nothing to do today," worried Max. As tempered as he was, he loved the thrill that came with job. Max was a wolf of action.

"Maybe we…" Barnes was interrupted by an acoustic guitar solo, announcing everyone that Kaylee was calling her boyfriend.

"Sorry," Max muttered and picked it up. "Hello, darling! You have time to chat on duty?" He asked with amusement.

" _Max, you need to come back home. We'll be waiting for you there,"_ Kaylee told him with tone deadly serious. Max froze. If he wasn't hearing her voice, he'd be sure something bad had happened to her. Could it be Anastasia, or maybe…

"What happened?" He asked.

" _It really isn't a conversation for a phone. Just… come over,"_ the bunny pleased.

"I'll be right there. Love you," he assured.

" _Love you too, Max,"_ replied Kaylee and she hung up. Max took a deep breath and looked at Barnes. The sheep knew this kind of sight; a one that foretells a tragedy.

"Where to?"

"My house," Max pleased. Without a word, Barnes turned on an indicator, made a U-turn and headed for their fellow officer's house. None of them said a word on their way which normally wouldn't be anything unusual, but now the silence was filled with no tranquility, but dread.

When they reached their destination, Kaylee was waiting outside. As he stood by her, the bunny grabbed his paw and held it firmly.

"Thank you for bringing him, Barnes. Don't wait for us," she pleased. The sheep nodded with understanding, muttered a goodbye and drove away.

"What happened?" Max asked, as Kaylee guided him toward the house.

"It's… let's speak inside," she pleased, as she walked him inside. In the dining room, he saw his sister, trembling and shaking as she cried in the couch, hugged by her boyfriend, Jason Wolford. He sat by her and put paw on her shoulder.

"Hey, Spice, what happened?" He asked, worried. Had somebody hurt her? She looked seemingly alright, but he couldn't really tell…

"It's…" Anastasia lifted herself from Wolford's chest and placed her caught Max's paw with her. She then looked him deeply into eyes. "It's… it's about father. He's dead," she stuttered. Max froze, as the news hit him with power of a lightning. For a moment, he just stared at her blankly, as his brain was slowly registering the thought. His father… dead?

"But we… but we were supposed to go to a dinner tomorrow," he muttered, as his paws began to shake. It was stupid, petty and insignificant, but it was his first thought. That father was always there and now, when he actually started finding time for Spice and him… He clenched his fists slowly.

"Max…" Kaylee sat by him and put her arm on his lap.

"How? When?" He asked, confused. He still couldn't understand how that could have happened.

"Police is unsure of details and there are no security logs due to the blackout, but… but it was a murder," the bunny explained. "They're at the mansion right now, gathering evidence." And then, Max suddenly lifted himself from chair.

"Wolford, you have your car here, don't you? We're going to mansion and we need to…" He decided, but Kaylee followed him immediately and caught his paw. Even if it would take him hardly any effort to simply lift her in the air, he froze immediately.

"Max, don't," the bunny pleased.

"My father's back in the mansion and you're telling me to stay here?" He muttered, not understanding how she could be stopping him now.

"Yes. You… You can't help him now and won't make things any better by going there. I know it's hard to you and…" She tried to calm him down, but he only snarled angrily.

"Know?! How can you even know when you hate your own…" He yelled at her, but stopped in the middle of sentence, as he realized that in his anger he was about to hurt Kaylee. He groaned and hid his face in paws. His eyes suddenly felt wet.

"Max?" Kaylee called his name soothingly.

"I just… I can't just sit here and wait," he muttered and let Kaylee guide him back to the coach next to his sister. For a moment, they thought he'd start crying like his sister had, but he did not. He was still too shocked with the news.

"We need to take a deep breath and take things slow for now, darling. See how things turn out," explained Kaylee. "Besides, ZPD's already at the place. We'd only be an unnecessary crowd there."

"And they're not letting anyone in anyway," added Wolford.

"So… are we solving the case? Or did we give it over?" Max wondered, but Jason shook his head. None of theirs was solving it.

"No, it's in paws of Tundratown, Precinct 18. Detective Sullivan to be precise. A good cop, although controversial for his ruthless methods."

"And do they have any suspects?" He asked. Kaylee and Jason shared uneasy sight and eventually the burden of bringing the news fell on the bunny.

"I'm not buying it…" Kaylee started carefully. "And neither does Wolford, but Sullivan believes it could have been Nick," she explained.

"What?" Max stuttered.

"He was yesterday in the mansion. His car still is. To me, it looks like someone was trying to frame him hard, but what really…" Wolford continued.

"Where is he?" Asked Reynolds, but both fellow officers shrugged.

"Vanished into thin air," explained Kaylee helplessly. "Judy has no idea where he is or what is really going on," she answered his next question before he even named it.

"So… we have no idea what really happened there. But Nick probably does," Max guessed and Kaylee bobbed her head once with a bit of uncertainty.

"Probably. Do you… do you want to look for him?" She feared, but Max shook his head as he embraced his fiancée with arm.

"No, I don't. I'd love to hear from him, especially if he may know anything about father's death, but if he really is on run, then even ZPD will have hard time finding him. Leave alone us," he argued reluctantly and cuddled Kaylee. He felt his eyes were going wet. At long last.


	4. Chasing leads

Chapter 4. "Chasing leads"

 _6.12 pm. Wednesday, August 21, 2020_

Everything was already set; Judy was finished packing her stuff, she tidied up her flat, emptied her fridge, turned off the light and locked the flat; she wasn't returning there anytime soon. The bunny left her house, but instead of heading for the station, she took a bus to last one stop before her leave; Max and Kaylee's house at Trip Street. It was a lovely, calm neighborhood where Judy would love to live one day too, but today, the silence of the street seemed more dreadful than ever. She rang the doorbell and the door opened after a moment. It was Kaylee.

"Hi, Kay…" Judy wanted to greet her, but the brown bunny fell into her arms and hugged her strongly. She was trembling and Judy recognized that she had been crying just a little earlier.

"Thanks for coming. You made it just in time for dinner," Crane invited her inside. Judy left her luggage in the hall and came to the dining room where Max Reynolds, his sister Anastasia "Spice" Reynolds and her boyfriend Jason Wolford were sitting by the table. They greeted their guest with a bitter, but welcoming expressions and invited her to sit down with them.

"Hey, how are you… how are you holding up?" Judy asked Max shyly and the arctic wolf almost managed to smile.

"I'm still letting the thought sink in," he replied. His eyes were red from crying, just like his sister's. "I don't think I'll have bravery to return to that house any time soon."

"Chief gave us a week off for a starter," Wolford sipped some of his wine. Judy always considered him a beer-type, but it looked like he succumbed to pressure of crowd. "To… you know, arrange things," he explained and offered Judy some of the drink, but she refused.

"I heard you took two weeks off as well," Max noticed, watching the bunny carefully.

"My partner's missing and he's a suspect of homicide. I'd only… interfere with the case and there are good cops on the case that will figure out the truth," Judy explained and wondered, if they believed her. Whether they did or not, none of them questioned her words. Instead, they changed the subject and started discussing about the recent blackout, wondering what could have caused it and who'd take over the case with Judy and Nick out of the picture. They talked on all sorts of topics for next one and half hour, trying for a moment to forget about the tragedy that had befallen them. Judy saw that Spice was coping with it badly, but all the support that Wolford was giving her was a ray of hope in her case. She was much more worried about Max and Kaylee. Neither of them was a type to sit down and cry; they would rather reforge their grief of loss into power to act. To find and punish the murderer of Thomas Reynolds. This thought raised an alarming concept; did they believe in Nick's guilt? They barely spoke of him, so Judy couldn't really tell. They both were really close with him, but they both knew of the issues that Nick had with old Reynolds. Judy hoped that they believed in his innocence or at least didn't try to assume things like Fangmeyer assured not to. They probably were in too much of a shock to be assigning blame just yet, was the conclusion that Judy finally came to.

She excused herself just before 8 pm, as her train would be leaving in over an hour. Kaylee insisted on walking her to the bus stop and Judy didn't argue much. The two of them walked the empty street in silence.

"What do you plan now?" Kaylee finally asked.

"To stay out of the picture," Judy assured, but her friend just laughed bitterly.

"Come on, I know you're not leaving Zootopia. As much as you trust ZPD, you'd never leave Nick at that Sullivan's mercy," Crane stated. "I talked with Wolford and Fangmeyer, heard how the scene looked like. Nick is wounded and hiding. He needs your help."

"You believe he's innocent," Judy realized with relief.

"I've been thinking of it for last five hours. Nick would never kill Max's father. Offend or hit him in the face, yes. But not kill and especially not as brutally as Fangmeyer described it. He would not burn the paintings that mean so much to Max. Yes, I think Nick is innocent and trust me, so does think Max," Kaylee assured. "And when we know that, we need to figure out what really happened in the residence that night."

"Yes, we do," Judy agreed and her friend smiled.

"So you are staying in Zootopia. What's your first step? Finding Nick?" Kaylee asked. Judy hesitated, but gave up lying to her; there was no point in doing so when she wouldn't believe her anyway.

"Making sure Sullivan and everyone involved assume I'm gone. Then finding Nick and learning his story. Only then will I be able to find the true murderer."

"Then you'll need some help. Here, have this," Kaylee handed her some old phone. "A throw-away phone, I have another one. It has my number in it. If I learn anything new or you have any questions, just call me."

"Kaylee, you can't…"

"You need help, darling. Don't reject it," Kaylee insisted.

"The last time something like that happened, Chief almost pressed charges against you…"

"The last time I was in touch with a serial murderer and notorious criminal. This time, I'm helping a framed friend. And besides, if me losing a job will save Nick from life in prison, then baby, sign me up," she argued.

"Kaylee, I really appreciate..." Judy tried to protest, when Kaylee placed her paw at her shoulder.

"You'd give your life for him, Judy. I owe everything I have to the two of you and my career is the least I care about right now. And don't worry, it's just me. I'm not dragging Max into it. He has enough on his head anyway," she promised. Judy hesitated, but accepted Kaylee's phone with a warm feeling in her heart. She wasn't alone in this.

"Thanks. I don't know if I'll ever…"

"We're the ZPD and that's how it works here; we help each other out. I help you today and in time of need, you will help me again," Kaylee assured with this same words Judy once gave her, long time ago. "Now, do you have a place to stay Sullivan doesn't know about? We don't want you to lead him to Nick."

"I have a place, some funds to live on my own and a strong lead to follow," Judy assured.

"Everything prepared, huh? Well then, good luck," Kaylee hugged Judy. "Find Nick and arrest whoever's behind this all."

"I will. And you'd better be careful too."

"Don't worry about me," Kaylee assured with a grin. She hugged her a bit stronger and released. "Bye!"

"Bye, Kaylee!" Judy waved back. As much as she'd feel better doing it alone, she knew that Kaylee's help could turn out priceless.

* * *

 _8.04 pm. Wednesday, August 21, 2020_

A couple hundred feet from Kaylee's house was parked a beige sedan car. Gerard Greymane had been aiming at Judy Hopps and Kaylee Crane a long-distance listening device and had recorded every single word of their conversation. He watched Scarlet Calveit carefully. She didn't seem pleased one bit.

"Who would have thought? Kaylee Crane," she muttered with disgust.

"Who?" Gerard jerked his head curiously.

"No one. Little, weird no one that dared to hit on Spencer back when we were in high school. She claimed to be tech-savvy, but never really proved it," she explained with clear jealousy.

"Says the nerd," noticed the wolf.

"I am smart. She was just weird. Not even her family liked her and if that happens to a bunny, then there has to be something wrong with her," Scarlet explained. "Funny, we all thought that the only way she'd get herself husband would be getting pregnant and forcing some poor buck into marriage. And there she is, having bewitched Max Reynolds himself," she said bitterly, as if taking her success for a personal disgrace. She probably was.

"That Max ain't too clever either. Rabbits are snacks to us, not lovers," wolf muttered and licked his teeth slowly. "I wonder how rabbit tastes… Hey, Scarlet, can I have her?" He pleaded.

"Haven't you tasted a bunny in your rampage days?" Scarlet asked with surprise.

"Nah, they're too fast. I tried to get one, but he got away. So, can I have her?" Gerard repeated his question impatiently.

"No, it would bring too much…" Scarlet wanted to refuse, but suddenly, an idea struck her. "Unless… in time? We'll need her for now, but once I'm done with her, she's all yours," she promised.

"Delightful," he licked his lips. "What are you gonna do with her?"

"Hopps is going to lose cops and so, us as well. Looking for her around the city will be pointless, even if she would lead straight to Wilde. But Crane… we can have an eye on her constantly and that provides opportunity."

"How's that?" The wolf asked curiously and Scarlet started the engine.

"Call Spencer, Grey. We're changing the plans and trust me, you'll like it. It involves mauling," Scarlet Calveit smiled ominously and started the engine.

* * *

 _8.07 am. Wednesday, August 21, 2020_

Judy's bus came just a few minutes later and took her straight to Zootopia Central Station. The bunny, often having to follow her perps, quickly realized that she was followed there. A black panther that seemed to be Sullivan's partner, Victoria Hamilton, was pretending to read the newspaper while she followed Judy boarding the train. She found an empty compartment and messaged her brother. Alan Hopps boarded the train far from Hamilton's sight and walked several wagons to join his sister. He sat next to her right when the train moved. Judy closed the compartment door behind him, covered windows with curtains and they opened their bags; Judy started unpacking essentials from her bag to Alan's suitcase, leaving both her phone and laptop in there; someone could trace her in Zootopia using those and with Kaylee's phone she didn't need any of them anymore. She then put on a brown, long trench coat Alan handed her and closed the suitcase. By the time they were done, they were nearing Tundratown.

"Do you remember the plan?" Judy asked her brother.

"Deliver your luggage to Martha; she has voice so similar to yours she'll easily pretend to be you if anyone from ZPD called. Come back tomorrow with next train. Tell no one of my little escapade."

"That's my bro," Judy smiled, as weighting her new suitcase and then, they heard the announcement of nearing next station approaching. "That's my stop! Take care!" She hugged him and then, lunged outside the compartment. As soon as the train stopped, she opened the door, left train and disappeared in the crowd of the Tundratown Station. From there, she took a bus to Sahara Square where her new flat was; even smaller and in worse state than the one she had in Great Pangolin Complex, but owner didn't ask any questions, even names, as long as she paid.

"He doesn't pay taxes either, I bet," Judy muttered, as she started unpacking. Clothes, basic essentials, carrot pen and a throw-away phone. It was all she had to find Nick. No police equipment, car or database.

"Doesn't that remind you of something?" Judy muttered to herself and managed to smile. This time, just like back at the Otterton case, she had a single lead. A word that for now was telling her nothing, but Nick sent it to her for a reason.

"Popocatépetl," she read a name she had written down on a sheet of paper. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to sleep anyway, Judy decided not to waste time but investigate her lead. It took her a while to find an Internet café opened this late in the evening, but some passerby gave her directions to a 24/7 one in nearby. Judy came into a small, dark café, paid a fee to a bored camel at the desk, bought herself a lemon tea from machine and sat down at the computer in the corner, where no one could see her monitor. She opened an Internet browser and entered in Zoogle a word: Popocatépetl. It turned out to be a name of some volcano on the other continent. Judy checked a Wiki page on it, hoping that she'd find something interesting there.

"Nearly 18000 feet high, still active volcano located 50 miles away from… no, that's not it," Judy muttered to herself. She browsed the page quickly, but found nothing interesting in there. She changed her search result to a "Popocatépetl Zootopia", but again, it was a miss. According to Zoogle, two names bore no correlation. Judy tried to search "Popocatépetl meaning" instead and it proved far more promising.

"The name means Smoking Mountain," Judy read quietly and an idea came to her mind. She opened a list of Zootopia street names. She searched "Smoke" and "Mountain" in there and got a couple of results. She checked all of them with Zoogle Maps, but found nothing that would bring her back to Nick.

"Pointless," bunny muttered with disappointment. Was there any "smoking mountain" in Zootopia? Maybe it was some tricky clue, like the one Judy left Nick back when she was kidnapped by Donovan? It could be anything, a bar, gas station, some factory perhaps… She searched the name in Zoogle Maps again and got couple dozens of results, but gave up after browsing for a while.

"No, I'm getting too deep. It has to be something simpler, something right under my nose," Judy spoke to herself, hoping that it would give her any ideas and then, one struck her. What if that name wasn't just a volcano or a mountain, but had another, forgotten meaning? Maybe some name? Judy tried to find "Popocatépetl" again, but this time excluding all results with "volcano" in it. On the first few pages, she saw only sites of mountains. But then, something brought her attention.

"Popocatépetl and Iztaccihuatl – the Tristan and Isolda you haven't heard about," she read and checked the website; it told some tribal legend of two coyote lovers; Popocatépetl who wanted to marry a great warrior Iztaccihuatli, but her father didn't approve it, so he sent him into the battle where he was supposed to die. Knowing that her lover would die and not wanting to marry another coyote, she took her life away with a dagger. When Iztaccihuatl came back victorious and learnt of his beloved's demise, he took her to the top of the mountain hoping the cold would wake her up, but he froze instead. The gods then covered them with snow and changed into the mountains.

"That sounds more promising. Maybe there's some painting of them, or a play that would…" Judy typed "Popocatépetl and Iztaccihuatl" in graphics search and then, she almost dropped her tea cup. The very first image shown presented Iztaccihuatl carrying his lover in his paws and she realized that she had seen it before numerous times. It was the very same art a certain fennec fox and Nick's partner in hustles had painted on side of his van.

"Finnick!" She barely kept her from exclaiming it aloud, she was so excited. "Of course, I wasn't picking up, so he called one mammal he could trust in such a situation!" Judy deleted her browsing history immediately, turned off the computer and ran outside. She had to find Finnick. She didn't have his phone number, but she knew where the fennec was hanging around and finding his characteristic van should be no problem…

"It's almost midnight," Judy realized soberly and yawned, only now realizing how tired she was. "If Nick's at Finnick's van, he'll be safe there for a night and even if not, finding him will take me a couple of hours. I'll raise a lot of unwanted attention in the middle of night. And besides, Finnick won't like a visit in the middle of night," Judy acknowledged all the reasons to postpone the search for a couple hours. As much as she hated it, it was only reasonable and besides, she was exhausted with all the events of past eighteen hours. She needed some rest.

"But tomorrow the first thing I do, is finding Finnick. And then you, Nick," Judy promised herself in mind.

* * *

 _8.41 pm. Wednesday, August 21, 2020_

The Tundratown Penitentiary learnt of the breakout and escaping of two of their prisoners only around 8 pm, giving Donovan Jacobs and Joshua Morrows at least twenty hours of head start. Fangmeyer and Barnes who, with Wolford and Reynolds on leave, were assigned partners temporarily, came to the prison about an hour after discovery of the escape. Director of prison, a small armadillo, greeted them nervously in front office.

"Larry Pendrickson, pleasure to meet you, Officers," he shook their paws.

"Detective Victor Barnes and that's my partner, Officer Fangmeyer. Let's skip the formalities and show us the cells from which your prisoners ran away," suggested Barnes. The director nodded nervously and guided the sheep and tigress to the isolation ward.

"They must have escaped during the blackout. Otherwise, they'd certainly have triggered the alarms," started the director. "But we only learnt of it an hour ago, when guards were to take the two from the isolation ward.

"Don't they check if prisoner's in cell during feeding time?" Fangmeyer noticed.

"The procedures claim they're supposed to. Practically, they just slide the plate in and don't waste time. It's a closed, dark room, they have nowhere to go," explained the armadillo.

"Unless there appears a tunnel," noticed Barnes skeptically.

"Umm… yes," Pendrickson agreed reluctantly. "We're here. We've emptied this section immediately after we learnt of the incident," he said a moment later and shown them the isolation ward; it was a long corridor with metal doors in regular distances. The prison director grabbed a key and opened the first of cells, turning on the light with the switch on the outside. Barnes and Fangmeyer saw a small cell consisting of only a metal, uncomfortable bed and a huge hole in the middle of the floor. Barnes kneeled by it and analyzed signs on its borders carefully.

"Looks like demolition blasts to me," he stated. "Who found it first?"

"Wedges, I believe. He was supposed to take prisoners back to their cells," explained the director.

"Mhm. Director, open the second cell and leave us to work," suggested Fangmeyer. "In meanwhile, prepare the list of prisoners that were in isolation ward with Jacobs and Morrows, guards that escorted them to the cells. We'll look around and come back to you."

"Of course," the director nodded and left them hurriedly. Fangmeyer and Barnes started looking around the cell. Finding nothing interesting in the cell itself, they estimated the hole. Whatever caused it, it broke through deep layer of concrete.

"It does look like demolition blasts. There are marks after drill, here, here and here," Fangmeyer pointed out.

"And three other on my side. Six in total. Which means they had dug the tunnel right under those two cells, waited for the blackout and then, pressed the trigger," Barnes noticed. "It had to be a subtle, skilled job if no guards really heard it."

"I wonder where it leads to," Fangmeyer noticed, sticking her head in it.

"One way to find out," stated Barnes and jumped down. It was rather narrow in there and a bit higher than enough for a sheep.

"I'm not going to fit in, am I?" noticed Fangmeyer and Barnes turned on his flashlight.

"Crawling, maybe. But you could get stuck," disagreed the old sheep. "Looks like it's a really long tunnel," he stated.

"Are you going in?" Fangmeyer asked.

"Yes, I'll see where it leads. If I don't call you in two hours, call for help," Barnes gave her instructions and the tigress nodded.

"You've got it. Be careful down there," she advised him.

"I will," promised the sheep and disappeared in the tunnel. Fangmeyer followed him with sight for a moment; the tunnel was just enough for him to work comfortably, which meant a lot of work or some special tools in action. It certainly was a long, hard work, which meant lots of marks and traces that could help them identify the mammals behind it.

Fangmeyer watched the second of cells and, finding there nothing interesting, called the forensic team; they should be able to find some interesting traces in the room. She secured the place, locked cells with keys given by director and went to his office.

Barnes called Fangmeyer about one and half hour later, asking her to pick him up. The tigress finished the last of questionings for the day, left the crime scene to the forensic team working on it and drove to Iceberg Boulevard whole two miles away, where her temporary partner had left the tunnel. She found him at some abandoned construction site, standing next to an entrance to underground passage.

"Already called guys to secure it," greeted her Barnes, sitting at the passenger's seat. "They'll come at place and we can go back."

"Don't tell me they dug for two miles," Fangmeyer said with surprise.

"Half at best. They used old canals for the most of the way, only reinforced it and installed some rails and the cart, most likely to transport the soil out. Looks a bit amateur, but did its job."

"Sounds bad," muttered Fangmeyer.

"But, I also found some sheep yarn that wasn't mine," sheep waved with a small plastic bag in front of Fangmeyer's face.

"So one of diggers was a sheep. And they had some construction and demolition experts," noticed the tigress. "Probably the same mammal."

"And probably a sheep," Barnes noticed.

"Knowing anyone like that?" Fangmeyer asked, but her partner shrugged.

"Maybe. I'll look around, see what I can find," he assured.

"And we need to know what this construction site is, exactly. And if perps had free access to it," Fangmeyer noticed. "And then, it looks like we're taking over the blackouts from Wilde and Hopps; whoever caused it, used them to free Jacobs and Morrows."

"Mhm," nodded Barnes. "Any ideas about it, though? I think Wilde and Hopps got stuck."

"Wilde had an idea to ask around the University, Student Circle of Robotics, to be exact. There might be someone who could recognize the handicraft. Weak lead, but…" Fangmeyer suggested.

"But might just work out," finished Barnes. "Looks like we're visiting the Student Circle of Robotics tomorrow," he stated. "And mom said that with this attitude, I'd never make it to university."

* * *

 _10.39 pm._ _Wednesday, August 21, 2020_

Jake Rockfield, a coyote in his early forties, stretched in his car seat and giggled, as he and his partner, about ten years older wolf Terence Okami, finally made it to Tundratown.

"Just like the glory days, ain't it?" He noticed.

"What glory days?" Terence muttered doubtfully.

"Oh, you know, twenty years ago. The Wolf Pack days, Terry. When we ruled the Happytown. The nightclubs, the streets, everything was ours. We were kidnapping, robbing, silencing inconvenient witnesses, all that with protection of the mighty ones of Zootopia… The glory days," Jake said dreamily.

"I remember how the glory days ended," Okami didn't seem half as enthusiastic. "With me dragging your half-conscious body from a burning car after Duchess wiped the Wolf Pack."

"Hey, I said we kill her when we still had a chance," replied Jake. "Only you jackasses claimed it'll be funnier to kill her husband instead, mutilate her and force her into closing the clubs."

"Uh-huh. You were the voice of reason," muttered Terrence doubtfully.

"And besides, don't spoil the night. Mr. Fancy Suit called once again and we're back in the game!" Jake shouted enthusiastically.

"Back in the game, right. We're his errand boys, Jake."

"Rich and alive errand boys, Terry. That's all I ever need," replied the coyote. "Pull over here, we shouldn't be driving in any closer," he suggested and Terence stopped at the nearby parking. Jake grabbed a small backpack of his tools and they walked about five hundred feet to a high metal fence.

"Let's see if Mr. Fancy Suit was right about the alarms," muttered Jake and jumping to the fence. He climbed it slowly and jumped down into the snow on the other side, but nothing happened.

"He was," stated Terence, following his young partner and jumping right next to him. "There it is, Reynolds mansion. No lights. Looks like no one's home tonight," he noticed as they walked toward it.

"Not even police. They did their job quickly," agreed Jake.

"From what the boss said, they think Wilde did it. They must have secured all the evidence and left the place," guessed the wolf. They came to the side entrance and opened it with a lockpick. The two burglars walked through the mansion not wasting even a second. They knew exactly what they came for. They made their way to Thomas Reynolds office; everything there seemed way more luxurious than they could ever afford, with old wooden furniture, paintings on the walls and some fancy bottles in glassed liquor cabinet. Jake's eyes stopped at the alcohols.

"Can we have one?"

"Remember what we're here for," reminded him Terence. He found the painting their boss had described to them before and hung if off the wall. Burglars saw a safe with a melted electronic lock.

"Not good. Mr. Fancy Suit was right about his worries, it seems," Jake noticed. Terence opened it slowly and saw some valuables including golden jewelry, but there was no briefcase or even a file inside and it was exactly what they had been sent for.

"Rut it. He took it," stated the old wolf.

"Wilde?"

"Or whoever killed Reynolds. I'll call the boss," decided Okami and he grabbed his phone. He dialed the number and his boss picked up almost immediately. "Boss, we're in the mansion. The briefcase is gone. Someone broke into the safe. Yes, they used some tools, burnt the lock. Mhm. Yes, sir. Understood. Of course. Goodbye, sir," the old wolf finished his conversation and Jake watched him expectantly.

"What now?" He asked impatiently.

"We find the briefcase. For that, we need to find Wilde and for that, we need to find Hopps. Luckily, boss knows where to look for her."

"So we just follow her until she leads us to the briefcase?" Asked Jake.

"Yes. And we destroy it when we have a chance. Let's go, before someone notices we're in here," suggested Terence. "And no, you cannot take the bottle," he added with a smirk.


	5. Warrant

Chapter 5. „Warrant"

 _8.22 am. Thursday, August 22, 2020_

Overwhelmed with emotions, Judy hardly slept that night. She had finally woken up before 5 am. She took a quick shower, went to a nearby shop for some snack and emerged on search of Finnick's van. She knew he was usually hanging around somewhere at Savannah Square, but had no clue where exactly he could be. The last time she was searching for him, it took her half an hour of driving around the district. This time she was on foot, so it would take her much more time, but it was the least of her concerns. With a map of district in paw and optimistic assumption that the fennec fox wouldn't be moving around for next few hours, she started the search. At first, she looked around the few places she remembered him liking to stop, but to no effect. Then she started wandering around checking all the corners, but for next three hours, she was finding nothing. And then, she came upon a bar with familiar name.

"The Hound," she read slowly and remembered it instantly. It was the place where Nick and Finnick met for a manly evening and a game of poker once in a while. There was no opening hours in there, but she pressed the handle and door opened with a screech. Judy stepped in looking around carefully. The place, dense with smoke, looked like bars from those vintage movies that she watched with Nick on Thursdays; nearly a dozen of small round tables scattered around, a wooden bar counter with a row of high chairs and a bartender, an old, sleepy bear, polishing a glass. The few patrons present watched her very carefully. Judy slowly approached the counter, hopped on certainly too high for her chair and bartender approached her slowly.

"Need something?"

"A glass of whiskey," Judy muttered not too confidently. As expensive as it probably were and as much she hated its taste, she had no idea what else to order in a place like this.

"Are you even twenty-one?" The bear joked, but poured her a glass of the golden alcohol. Judy took a sip trying not to curl her lips in disgust and the bartender smirked. "Good?"

"Exquisite," Judy lied blatantly, but bear knew the truth and she realized that he did. The only question now was whether he realized she was a cop, or just assumed her to be a depressed bunny trying to drown her sorrows. Or an alcoholic desiring new experiences. You'd never know unless you ask.

"I'm looking for a friend," she started quietly and bear watched her carefully.

"You can find plenty of friends in here," bartender promised.

"I'm looking for a peculiar one. His name's Finnick. Fennec fox, short for his species, with deep, low voice, sunglasses, threatening demeanor. Has a big red van," Judy explained shortly. The bartender hesitated and in meanwhile, one of the patrons approached the counter. The bear handed him a dark beer and barked him a single word that Judy missed.

"Sorry, never heard of," bartender shrugged and Judy knew that he was lying; Finnick would come here on regular basis. If that was so, then had to Judy come to terms with fact that she wouldn't learn much more here, but decided to take one more chance.

"He comes here on Fridays regularly to play poker and darts, sometimes brings with himself a red fox. His name's… " And then Judy's ears perked up as she heard the screech of door and saw a small blur of beige fur running out; no one else than Finnick. Judy and bartender exchanged glances; both of them knew clearly what was going now in each other's head. At the very same moment the bear was trying to catch her, bunny was already bouncing from her chair, slipping away from between his paws and rushing for the door.

"Hey, you gotta pay!" The bear called her, but Judy knew it hardly was a reason why he tried to grab her or why one of the wolves present tried to catch her. She ran between patron's legs, bounced from another's head and bashed through the ajar door. She caught sight of Finnick's tail disappearing behind the corner and followed him immediately, vanishing from sight of mammals in bar before they managed to follow her. Judy made a rapid turn, jumped over the fence, ran dozen feet, made another rapid turn into a dead end and then, she saw a baseball bat going straight for her head. Bunny fell to her knees sliding through the dust right below it for a couple of feet.

"It's me! Judy!" She shouted and the fennec fox froze, staring at her with confusion. He then dropped the bat and walked toward the rabbit.

"Sergeant Toot-Toot! I missed ya!" He grinned recognizing her.

"You don't say," Judy said, lying on the ground with her heart still hammering. The fennec offered her a paw and she stood up slowly.

"Ha! Sorry about that! You chased me so I ran! It's a reflex, y'know!" He started dusting her trousers off. "Oh, I think ya torn them."

"Well, I chose to dodge the bat," Judy noticed teasingly.

"Wise choice! If ya didn't, I'd be patching up the second half of WildeHopps today," Finnick snickered. "He said you'd find me quick, but I didn't think this quick."

"So you really saw him?" Judy asked and he nodded.

"Yeah and he said ya won't be the only one searchin' so come on, let's talk where it's safe," the fennec suggested, grabbing his baseball bat again. Judy followed him to his van parked just nearby and they drove to the other end of district in silence. The bunny, even if smell wasn't her main sense, could clearly feel gentle scent of bleach inside which gave her an idea of what happened in there just a day earlier.

They stopped in some empty alley and they went to the back of the rather spacious van; it had a small couch in there and a fridge with beers. Finnick opened two of them and handed one to Judy who accepted it without a word. She still had that awful whiskey taste in her mouth and it was ridiculously hot in here. She took a sip and settled herself on couch right next to the fox.

"Are cops looking for you?" Judy asked to start the conversation.

"I don't know, haven't seen any. Ya tell me, Judy," the fennec skipped formalities quickly. Judy just shrugged.

"I don't think so. They don't know about the clue that Nick gave me. Even if they did, I doubt if they'll figure it out unless they fall at your van accidentally and have the painting in their minds," Judy assured.

"Ya speak of them as if you ain't one of them anymore," Finnick smirked.

"Am I wearing a badge?" Judy asked. For a matter of fact, she only had a dusted shirt and her now shredded jeans. She now hoped she had any spare ones in her small suitcase back in the flat.

"Hopps gone rouge, huh?" For some reason, fox seemed to be enjoying the thought.

"Not quite," she refused. "But to the subject. You met Nick. When? How?"

"He called me before 2 am and damn, he sounded bad. He asked me to pick him up from Tundratown, saying that he was waiting at the Snowy Hills. It's on the other side of the town, so it took me a while. I found him standin' in the snow, all curled up and freezin'. He was cold like a pawpsicle. Big, red pawpsicle he was there. I wanted to take him to my or his place, but he refused, so I parked a mile away at some parking, bought bandages and took care of him. He was bleedin' bad, you know, lost half a pint or whole."

"What were his wounds?" Judy asked trying her best for her voice to seem neutral, but it trembled anyway.

"Claw marks all over arms and chest. A deep, nasty bite mark on his left paw, dislocated arm. That we fixed," Finnick described and Judy felt dizzy. Nick really was on run in state this bad?

"The slash marks on his arms, did they look like he was defending himself?" She wondered.

"Yeah. And the bite mark was from a wolf or coyote. Something bigger than Nick, that for sure," the fennec fox explained. "Anyway, I patched him up, went to 24/7 store and bought him some new clothes; his were in shreds. Got him jeans and a black T-shirt and some brown jacket. Just before dawn, when I'd done all I could, he said he had to go. Dropped him off in Meadowlands, he had some business to do in there. He instructed me to get rid of his clothes, phone and documents and wash all of the blood off, it was plenty of it in here," Finnick explained.

"You let him go?"

"I tried to stop him, but you know him. He said he ain't gonna put me in danger. Coz y'know, whoever did that, they ain't screwing around," Finnick snarled. "Idiot, what's he gonna do on his own?"

"Find out the ones who are behind it."

"Yeah, sure. Rather get himself killed or arrested," snarled Finnick. "It's about that Reynolds millionaire, ain't it? They said on the morning news that he's dead and Wilde may be involved," the fennec fox realized.

"Yes, it's about that. Police thinks he could have killed him," Judy muttered bitterly.

"Then they're a bunch of donut-munching morons. Nothin' new, huh?" Finnick smirked to her and Judy replied with a weak smile. "Nah, Nick's innocent."

"Why are you so sure?" The bunny asked hopefully.

"I know you ain't have no doubts, but if you saw him back then… He was like a wild animal. But not a chomper hunting. He looked like a little scared critter that was shocked to have simply made it alive," the fennec explained and Judy felt creeps. She should have been there for him. But instead, she overslept all four of his calls. "If they saw him back then, they'd have no doubts."

"I… understand," she managed to smile bitterly.

"Sorry, I bet you counted on something that could help you in court or lead you to the real murderers…"

"ZPD would probably say you're just making things up anyway," Judy waved it off. "Do you know who's behind it?"

"Dunno," Finnick just shrugged. "Nick was in too much of a shock to tell. And I'm not sure if he knows either."

"I see," the bunny muttered and drank a bit of her beer. It wasn't much. "What is he planning now?"

"He said the least I know, the better. But he's going to contact you soon, he just needs to check something out on his own. He claimed he had an idea how to do it safely," the small fox explained. Now, that was encouraging.

"Contact me? How?"

"He said that… let me get it right…" Finnick was thinking intensively for a few moments. "That he's going to leave you instructions and if you don't know where to find them, then you are ignorant, irresponsible and small-minded, just like a dumb bunny you are. That's what he said," fennec fox repeated his friend's words. He watched Judy carefully, as her ears suddenly perked up and she smiled. "You know where to find him?"

"Yes, I think I have an idea," Judy giggled. That was a much easier riddle, but probably insolvable to anyone but her. "Thanks, Finnick, I've got to go!"

"Whoa, girl, slow down a bit!" Finnick grabbed her arm before she managed to get away. "Sit down for a moment, finish your beer. You look exhausted," he suggested.

"I guess I am. I've been looking for you for a few hours now," Judy agreed reluctantly, playing with the bottle she had barely touched. She realized that she had barely eaten anything since she learnt of Thomas Reynolds' death and she was now starving. On her way to the next clue, she had to buy a sandwich.

"Hours? Girl, you start early," Finnick noticed with surprise.

"A bunny thing," she explained. "So, how's…" Before she managed to ask, they heard a phone ringing. They looked at each other with confusion and Finnick just shrugged.

"Ain't mine," he claimed. Judy realized it was the throw-away phone from Kaylee. She picked it up immediately.

"Hey, Kay, I thought you were going to call when you find something impo…"

 _"_ _Turn on TV, radio, whatever. Zootopia Radio Station 2, if you have no TV. Now,"_ Kaylee ordered her. Her voice was trembling.

"Kaylee, what's going…"

 _"_ _Just… turn it on and listen,"_ Crane ordered and hung up. Confused, Judy put the phone back into her pocket, unsure what to think of it. Well, there was just one way to find out.

"Finnick, could you turn on radio? Station 2," she pleased. The fox, just as surprised as her, complied. They found the station in the middle of some interview.

 _"…_ _has been twenty-four hours since death of known millionaire and philanthropist Thomas Ezekiel Reynolds and everyone is asking; who could have done it? Our sources claim you have already excluded a burglary and focus on more… personal motives,"_ a female, soft voice asked.

 _"_ _It certainly wasn't an ordinary burglary, Miss Grey,"_ assured Detective Sullivan; Judy would recognize his harsh tone anywhere. _"The mansion has been devastated, but it seems like nothing has been stolen. Whoever was there, came with intent to kill,"_ the old horse explained and Judy clenched her fist slowly. How dares he to tell media such things right now after all the crap he was trying to sell her? Finnick watched her worryingly.

 _"_ _Which leads us to the murderer. I believe ZPD already has their suspects?"_

 _"_ _I assure so,"_ promised Sullivan.

 _"_ _Could you tell us a bit more about them? Could you be perhaps considering connection with Detective Nicholas Wilde, the same fox officer that gained his fame for assisting in solving the Nighthowler case? We know it is his car that has been standing before Reynolds' mansion for last thirty-six hours,"_ the reporter asked.

 _"_ _Well…"_ the detective sighed with palpable awkwardness.

"Don't you dare… Don't you dare…" Judy begged, but somewhere deep in her mind, she already knew.

 _"_ _I thought I would have announced it during the midday conference, but time is of essence here. Detective Wilde has been missing since the evening before Thomas Reynolds death. We found multiple evidences of his presence in… of his participation in this gruesome murder. We consider him the main suspect in this case and, as I'm speaking, the prosecutor is approving the arrest warrant against Nicholas Piberius Wilde. The fox is on the run for a reason, Miss Grey, and we need to find him before he vanishes,"_ Sullivan confessed.

 _"_ _But Detective Wilde has been considered a paragon of ZPD till recently…"_

 _"_ _Not all so-called paragons live up to their ima…"_ and then, Finnick turned off the radio.

"Enough of this crap," he muttered angrily and watched Judy carefully. She was staring at the van's wall blankly, trying to let the news sink in.

"Judy?" Finnick placed a paw on her shoulder, but she didn't even notice it.

"ZPD approved arrest warrant against Nick. Someone approved the warrant on the second day of investigation! Against their own friend!" She screamed, clenching fists so strongly, she actually scratched herself. "They're not even sure of anything and yet…"

"Was this guy Sullivan? James Sullivan? That officer in charge?" Finnick asked, confusing her a bit.

"Yes, why does it even…"

"Coz I know this guy; nasty type. He built his career selling own his own brother and cousin over their little illegal business, stealin' TVs or something like that. They say he had been takin' money from them for protection beforehand, but covered it all up," the fennec fox recalled.

"What are you getting at?" Judy asked.

"Nick said something that he can't trust ZPD anymore when I picked him up. Something about a cop that would try to get rid of him. That's why he's on the run; because if Sullivan arrests him, he'll find him guilty, close the case, make sure he gets a life sentence and gets shanked on the second week in jail."

"And whoever really did it will walk free," Judy muttered with a chill running through her spine. "I've got to find the second clue now. I have to find Nick."

"Need a ride?" Finnick offered, but Judy shook her head.

"No. Like Nick said, the less you know, the safer you are. Besides, it's not so far," Judy assured. "Thanks, Finnick, you're the best," she hugged him.

"Hey, when ya find Nick, tell him… tell him that he owes me a one good hustle with him. I miss the old times," told her Finnick and she chuckled.

"I surely will," she promised and sprang out of small fox's van. She grabbed the phone and called Kaylee once again. "Kaylee, are you there?"

 _"_ _What can I do for you?"_ She asked.

"How deep into Sullivan's past can you dig?"

 _"_ _If I do a little hacking? Down to his grandfather's birth, I bet,"_ Kaylee promised, her tone just determined as Judy's.

"Then start digging, because I've got a feeling Sullivan's loyalties don't lie where we'd all want them to be," Judy pleased.

 _"_ _I'm on it, Judy. I'll call you when I learn anything,"_ Kaylee promised and hung up. Judy kept running, passing by citizens swiftly. Onto the second clue. And then, straight to Nick.

* * *

 _8.59 am. Thursday, August 22, 2020_

Sylvia Wilde, proud mother of the first fox officer in Zootopia, had been working for last three decades as a seamstress at Marco Brothers' Tailoring; a small family company that used to be rivals to her husband's Suit-o-pia when it existed, but appeared of great help after his sudden and tragic demise. The old vixen really enjoyed this job; it was quiet and calm and she would spend eight hours a day sewing, which she actually enjoyed, in a company of three other ladies of her age that she really liked. Their boss was a polite, quiet panther in his mid-fifties that paid fair money and rarely caused them any troubles. As usually, they all were around 8 am and work for the next eight hours making time pass faster with chit-chats and radio.

"You wouldn't have time for a game of bridge tonight, Sylvia, darling?" Offered a panther sitting right next to her not interrupting her work for even a second.

"It's Thursday, Julia! She's having her usual dinner with her son and his girlfriend," reminded them a wolf named Laura. "Tell us, Sylvia, when is he going to confess to young Miss Hopps? These two are begging for a lovely wedding!"

"And you need some grandchildren, darling!" Added Julia the panther.

"Yes, a couple of cubs running around your house wouldn't hurt for sure!" Joined the conversation Patricia, the second wolf and the youngest one of all of them. "Trust me, nothing brings youth back like a small set of grandchildren!"

"Well, Nicholas and Judy certainly aren't producing any, though!" Giggled Julia.

"Oh, shut it, you hags," Sylvia Wilde muttered with a smirk and Patricia cackled like a witch from fairy tales. For a few moments, they worked in silence, when Julia spoke again.

"I don't know if you've heard, girls, but something strange has happened at the Reynolds yesterday. My son, George, is a servant there, you know?"

"Uh-huh?" Silvia Wilde pretended not to care while trying not to glance at her wedding ring on the left paw.

"Yes and a day before yesterday in the evening, Mr. Reynolds wrote them all a text to leave early and not to come tomorrow. He has been doing so before, so he thought not much of it, but when he came there today, there was police everywhere! They didn't even let him in!" Patricia exclaimed with excitement.

"Could it be some robbery? Or a murder? They didn't mention it in the yesterday's news, though," Julia noticed, intrigued.

"I haven't heard anything. If it was, we'll learn today. ZPD can't keep the journalists away forever," Sylvia noticed seemingly carelessly. And then, Julia walked to the radio and surfed through the stations until she came upon Zootopia Station 2.

 _"_ _I am now standing in front of Reynolds mansion at 1456 Snowy Hills and speaking with Detective James Sullivan. Detective, we have just been officially informed that it was indeed a murder."_ The moment reporter said it all three ladies looked at Sylvia Wilde who paused her work. Murder in Reynolds mansion? This couldn't be good.

"Turn it up," she pleased and Julia did so.

 _"_ _It has been approximately twenty-four hours since death of known millionaire and philanthropist Thomas Ezekiel Reynolds and everyone is asking; who could have done it? Our sources claim you have already excluded a burglary and focus on more… personal motives,"_ continued the question journalist and suddenly, some very, very bad thoughts came to old vixen's mind. When has she seen or called Nick last time? She fought the urge to grab the phone just now.

 _"_ _It certainly wasn't ordinary burglary, Miss Grey,"_ the detective assured with his harsh, unpleasant tone. He probably was a heavy smoker, echoed through old vixen's mind, as if it mattered at all. _"The mansion has been devastated, but it seems nothing has been stolen. Whoever there was, came there with intent to kill."_

 _"_ _Which leads us to the murderer. I believe ZPD already has their suspects?"_ Wondered the journalist.

 _"_ _I assure so,"_ claimed Sullivan and Mrs. Wilde could bet they wouldn't hear any other revelations now. No officer would reveal whom they suspect this early in the investigation. At least Nick or Judy never would, as publicity rarely had positive effect on the case.

 _"_ _Could you tell us a bit more about them? Could you be perhaps considering connection with Detective Nicholas Wilde, the same fox officer that gained his fame for assisting in solving the Nighthowler case? We know it is his car that has been standing before Reynolds' mansion for last thirty-six hours,"_ pointed out the reporter curiously. None of Sylvia's coworkers dared to look at her this time and the old vixen's heart was beating so hard it would break through her chest any second now. She was certain Sullivan would deny. A cop would never do such a thing to another cop. And then, his reply came.

 _"_ _Well… I thought I would have announced it during the midday conference, but time is of essence here. Detective Wilde has been missing since the evening before Thomas Reynolds death. We found multiple evidences of his presence in… of his participation in this gruesome murder. We consider him the main suspect in this case and, as I'm speaking, the chief of police is approving the arrest warrant against Nicholas Piberius Wilde. The fox is on the run for a reason, Miss Grey, and we need to find him before he vanishes,"_ Sullivan explained. His tone was cold, calculated, as if it was just a part of some bigger scheme.

 _"_ _But Detective Wilde has been considered a paragon of ZPD till recently…"_ tried to argue the shocked journalist.

 _"_ _Not all so-called paragons live up to their image, Miss Grey. Everyone thought Mayor Lionheart or Mayor Bellwether were heroes of the city until the Nighthowlers came. I'm not saying yet that Wilde killed Reynolds for one hundred percent. He still has a chance to clear his name, but he needs to turn himself in immediately,"_ Sullivan paused for a moment. _"If you hear me Wilde, turn yourself in and prove your innocence. This is your only chance. Thank you, Miss Grey, that's all I have to say,"_ replied the detective and with those words, finished the interview. The journalist was bringing it to conclusions now, but none of the seamstresses listened anymore; all three stared at Sylvia Wilde. Or rather her empty seat, as the vixen was long gone.

* * *

 _9.40 am. Thursday, August 22, 2020_

Chief Blizzard, a polar bear in his early fifties commanding ZPD's District 18, Tundratown, cursed again as he hung up and once again fought temptation to throw the phone against a wall. Some police officers like the ones from Precinct 1 enjoyed attention of media, probably because it was focused on them regularly. The others, like Chief Andrew Blizzard, when they had twenty journalists calling him within an hour on his private number (he had to find out who leaked it and take care of the snitch), they considered their day pretty much ruined. That's why, when he saw the mobile buzzing again, he almost rejected it before realizing that this time, it was Chief Bogo from Precinct 1.

"Ah, Bogo? How are you doing?" He said casually, as if they were best buddies they ceased to be many years ago.

 _"_ _I guess mayor has already called with congratulations?"_ Bogo asked coldly, but Blizzard didn't notice the fury in his tone. Or rather he pretended not to.

"Well, it's way too early for congratulations, but he was glad that we're already chasing the perpetrator. The justice shall be swift and merciless, he said. There's no time to screw around," explained the polar bear. "I'm just filling his will here, you know."

 _"_ _And it never crossed your mind to tell me that you're going to arrest my own officer?!"_ Yelled Bogo at him. _"Have you even considered this basic courtesy?!"_

"So what, Bogo? So you could call your friend the prosecutor beforehand and block the warrant? No, thank you," replied Blizzard.

 _"_ _No, so I could explain to you that you're being an idiot throwing the arrest warrants left and right. My officer is being scrutinized right now and you're not even sure if he's actually behind it,"_ Bogo snarled at him.

"Sorry, Sullivan thinks it's the only reasonable action here," replied Blizzard emotionlessly.

 _"_ _He thinks so? He told you he's going to news and mayor and claim you're blocking the case if you wouldn't, didn't he?"_ Bogo mocked him and Blizzard curled his lips in anger; the buffalo hit a jackpot there.

"None of your business."

 _"_ _If I had an officer blackmailing me, he'd leave the office with my hoof in his arse and badge on my desk, Blizzard,"_ he told him deadly seriously. Chief needed to keep his people in check.

"I can't fire Sullivan. He's the best officer of my precinct," replied Blizzard tersely. Bogo knew though that it wasn't just about it, but an old case where Blizzard and Sullivan, formerly partners, covered each other. If buffalo had any proofs, though, Blizzard would be long gone from his position.

 _"_ _Well then, you made your own bed. Don't be surprised with backlash,"_ Bogo warned.

"We'll arrest your fox and close the case quickly, Bogo. Mayor will be blissed."

 _"_ _Unless you're wrong. By the way, expect a guest,"_ replied Precinct 1's chief.

"Whom, your rabbit?"

 _"_ _I won't be spoiling the surprise, Blizzard,"_ Chief Bogo said and hung up. Blizzard just snarled angrily and dropped the phone shaking his head in disbelief. Bogo thought that he could scare him? Well, the days when he feared water buffalo were long gone.

* * *

 _10.16 am. Thursday, August 22, 2020_

Officer Faraday, a young moose serving the claimants of ZPD Precinct 18, Tundratown, hardly ever complained about his work; it carried all privileges of service without most of its threats. Of course, he had to deal with troublesome mammals sometimes, but it hardly comparable to what you'd face in the streets. But that morning, when he saw an old vixen dressed in a dark, frosted coat, marching toward his desk slowly and inevitably like death, he actually trembled. For a second, he dared to look into her eyes, but instead of usual "I have a complaint", "Can I speak to chief?" or even "I demand to see whoever's in charge in here!", he saw fire blazing with silent fury that would scorch down whoever dared to stand in her way.

"My name's Sylvia Wilde. I will speak with Chief Blizzard now," she announced, as if it was inalienable law. Officer Faraday wasn't so sure if it weren't.

"Umm… Chief is busy…" moose tried to argue, but her stare cut all protests. Faraday reached for his office phone unsurely. "Chief, Mrs. Wilde wants to see you."

 _"_ _Not now,"_ muttered Blizzard.

"She seems very firm in her demands, sir," argued moose simply under pressure of her ominous presence. He felt that the quicker he'd get rid of the vixen, the better for him.

 _"_ _So tell her to go to hell,"_ snarled the chief angrily.

"Literarily?" Faraday asked fearfully.

 _"_ _Of course not! Tell her that I'm having a meeting or… You're the one that's supposed to be making up excuses, Faraday!"_ Blizzard scolded him.

"Um… yes, sir. Of course, I understand. I'll tell her," moose nodded with understanding and put the phone back down. "Mrs. Wilde, I am sorry, but Chief is…" And then, the moose realized that he was throwing his word in the air, as the old vixen was nowhere to be found.

"Mrs. Wilde?! Has anyone seen that vixen?!" He asked, looking around, but several officers just shrugged helplessly as they returned to their duties.

* * *

Mrs. Wilde found Chief Blizzard's office without trouble. She knocked on the door, opened it not waiting for invitation, stepped inside and closed right behind her. The polar bear stared at her with concern, as vixen sent him a warm smile.

"Thank you for your time, Chief Blizzard," she said.

"I thought I said I'm busy."

"No, you said that I can go to hell. There's a difference," corrected him Mrs. Wilde as she sat on the chair in front of him. "And now that I'm here, I hope you can sacrifice me couple minutes of your time," she insisted, still wearing a polite smile and Blizzard realized that he could not read what was really hidden behind it. Was she going to beg him, trying to blackmail him or maybe even bribe? He could not tell.

"I should be throwing you out of my office, Mrs. Wilde. One cannot just break in and expect and audience."

"Sometimes it is necessary. I had no trouble accessing Chief Bogo's office earlier. Because as you can imagine, he was the first Chief I went to, believing that he was responsible for the situation," disagreed Mrs. Wilde.

"With all due respect, I believe it is not me or Bogo that are responsible for the… situation," Blizzard stated firmly. It looked like he was not removing Mrs. Wilde from here without using force and he certainly didn't want to cause such a scene. Oh, the news would have lots of fun.

"Aren't you? Could you explain to me then, who is responsible for slandering my son in front of whole Zootopia when the investigation has barely began?" Sylvia Wilde asked politely, but Blizzard acknowledged the fires blazing in her eyes. Not that they scared him… that much.

"As much as it must hurt mother's heart, my best detective provided enough proof that your son has committed this murder to persuade me and the prosecutor, Mrs. Wilde. It's only matter of time to prove his guilt fully," the bear explained patronizingly.

"That's a lie," Mrs. Wilde stated firmly. "Due to the blackout you prolly have no camera recordings. No witnesses either. It's typical circumstantial investigation with nothing that couldn't be arranged by a third party which could have business in framing Nick. My son's guilt isn't yet decided," she pointed out and even if she was right, Blizzard didn't let her see that.

"With all due respect, you're no cop, Mrs. Wilde. You haven't seen the crime scene or the evidences. You have no idea about leading investigation and despite popular belief, crime novels don't serve as adequate textbooks. Leave it to the professionals," Blizzard stated cynically.

"I may not be an expert, but I know that pointing fingers while being still uncertain…" Mrs. Wilde argued.

"We are certain."

"Please, do not interrupt me. You merely believe in his guilt, not know of it," continued the vixen. "You are looking for my son since he's involved. That I understand. But by publically announcing him a murderer, you're doing more harm to the case than…"

"We gain publicity that will only help arrest Wilde."

"Would you stop interrupting me, Chief? Please?!" Mrs. Wilde hissed through her teeth. "You should have just declared him missing and being a key witness to the case. The insinuations would spread anyway if you care for them and everyone would be looking for my son nonetheless."

"But the pressure wouldn't be big enough and time is of essence here," disagreed Chief Blizzard.

"Why? Reynolds is already dead and if Nick killed him in passion like you claim, he doesn't plan to hurt anyone more. Why is time of essence here?" Mrs. Wilde demanded to know.

"The victim is Thomas Ezekiel Reynolds, the probably richest and most influential mammal of whole Zootopia. The city wants truth behind himself. The mayor himself wants justice to be delivered. This is not a case where we can afford wasting time."

"Even if it ruins my son?" Mrs. Wilde stared at him coldly and the bear forced himself to withstand it. And then, the vixen snorted resentfully. "He's just another fox to you, isn't he? A lowlife that shouldn't even be one of you."

"You said it."

"But you meant it, Chief," Mrs. Wilde replied. "You don't care about my son one bit."

"I know it hurts, but your son killed…"

"Repeat that lie one time more!" Sylvia Wilde lost it now, as she yelled at the Chief. "How do you even dare to throw these words in his mother's face when you don't even know?! You have not a clue what really happened there! You don't even know why Nick was there in the first place and you're already certain he killed him!"

"Do you know why he was there?" Chief Blizzard asked, but vixen didn't bother with an answer. Instead, she looked down on her paw and touched a wedding ring on her left paw. The polar bear followed it there with his sight.

"You noticed before that I'm a widow, didn't you? You probably heard before that I lost my husband in a car accident involving Thomas Reynolds," she muttered, but Blizzard didn't comment on her words, so she continued. "Back then, officers at the place of tragedy, excellent officers as following years proved, stated that it was clearly Reynolds' fault. But later on, the… new facts started appearing; bad state of road, technical failures in Reynolds' car, factory defects… thousands of small failures that were no one's and certainly not Reynolds' fault. It reached the point where Thomas Reynolds had his name cleared from any charges even despite his obvious fault," Sylvia Wilde said, clenching her fists. Memories were still vivid. "Back then, I lost faith in ZPD. Coming from Happytown, I never trusted it much, but it was a breaking point. Things changed when Judy Hopps appeared in Nick's and eventually in my life. I saw in her what ZPD was really supposed to stand for. I watched my son believing again in ideals of his childhood. I saw him being actually happy for the first in many years. For last three years of his service, I've been thinking that police aren't so bad. That Johnny's case was an exception to the rule. And now I see I was wrong yet again."

"I understand your bitterness, Mrs. Wilde," assured Blizzard, but Mrs. Wilde ignored it. She could do either that or yell at him for his ignorance which would lead her nowhere.

"For last thirty years, some of you changed not one bit. Some of you will only serve the town when it's convenient to you. When there's no bigger profit in serving yourselves or your own careers. That's what you're doing there, Chief Blizzard. You sold my son's good name for publicity and mayor's approval."

"Now you are over interpreting things, Mrs. Wilde. We only serve the city," claimed the polar bear.

"Tell me Chief, how can you serve Zootopia, if you're selling out even your own people?" She asked, once again looking up and meeting his eyes. This time, Blizzard didn't know what to say. No words other than admitting his fault seemed adequate, because that was indeed what he was doing; he was selling Wilde for his own convenience. And seeing it clearly, Mrs. Wilde sighed deeply and lifted herself from her chair.

"I guess I'll find no answers here. Thank you for your time. And please be aware; when my son turns out to be innocent, you might be the one on receiving end of city's outrage, Chief Blizzard," warned Mrs. Wilde.

"Is that a threat?" asked the polar bear coldly.

"Merely wishful thinking, Chief," vixen corrected him before closing the door behind her.

* * *

Sylvia Wilde stopped just outside Chief's office and wiped her tears off before walking back to the lobby; she wasn't going to let anyone see her crying. She passed through the station slowly and with dignity, not avoiding sights of all the officers that must have recognized her; they all knew of the situation, she read from their faces, but none dared to approach her. The old vixen finally left the building and then, she saw someone in the distance; it was a pair of camels running toward her; one of them held a microphone and the other a camera.

"Mrs. Wilde, do you have a moment?" The reporter asked while his companion aimed huge camera at her.

"I'm afraid not," she replied coldly, not even slowing down. The camel tried stepping in front of her, but she rapidly changed the directions.

"Just a few questions, ma'am! The city wants to know…"

"Then it should ask ZPD," Sylvia Wilde muttered under her breath, but didn't even slow down. She knew that if she replies to anything he says, she'll get dragged into…

"Why has your son murdered Thomas Reynolds?!" The reporter demanded to know and old vixen froze stopped right where she stood. She caught a glimpse of reporter's smirk. What a cheap provocation!

"Mrs. Wilde?" Camel asked her again, as she was not replying.

"Can you repeat the question?" She asked politely while turning herself toward the reporter to have a clean slash of his face. She was going to do it. If only he dares to say that again.

"I asked why has your son…"

"That's enough," snarled a wolf suddenly as he appeared out of nowhere and stood right between Mrs. Wilde and the reporter. While he wasn't dressed in uniform, she recognized an officer in him. "Go bother someone else," he ordered, while leading Mrs. Wilde away. Camels tried to follow them anyway.

"Mrs. Wilde…"

"Get lost! Now!" Snarled the wolf, finally discouraging both camels. Mrs. Wilde and her savior walked toward police parking in silence.

"Thank you, Mr. Wolford," vixen spoke finally. "I was ready to claw his eyes out if he dared to…"

"And I'd gladly watch the scene, Mrs. Wilde, but not with the camera recording. You have enough troubles as it is," Wolford replied with a grim smirk. "Some of them have no conscience."

"No, they don't."

"Would you care for a ride, Mrs. Wilde? It's quite far from your home," the wolf offered, as they were nearing his car and Sylvia Wilde gladly accepted the offer. They sat inside the car, Wolford started the engine and soon, they were on their way to Happytown.

"I assume you've just talked with Sullivan and Hamilton?" Wolf wondered. He could see from her face that the conversation did not go well.

"No, Chief Blizzard," Sylvia Wilde corrected him. "It was him that approved the warrant, as Bogo explained me."

"Yes, it was him," Wolford confirmed. "I took few days off since the victim was my girlfriend's father, so I don't really know much. Only came here for questioning. Good thing I fell at you, though," he smiled weakly, but she didn't return it.

"Mhm. You're a cop, Mr. Wolford. What do you think of this all?" She asked.

"I think they operate under massive pressure. I've seen the crime scene and the things there… if you don't know Wilde, then everything points at him rather clearly. And since he's a witty fellow and, if wanted, could keep hiding for probably forever, Sullivan must have forced his Chief to approve the warrant immediately. That's the way that horse acts; he wants something, he gets it. He has a suspect hiding, he wants him in a cell. He'd tell the media with or without warrant, I bet. And then, his chief would be in some massive troubles," the wolf explained.

"Isn't it hurting the investigation?"

"When his main suspect is already on the run? It hurts only the suspect. And chief could either show support for his decision and prove that ZPD speaks in unison, or delay the decision and get all the sorts of unwanted attention; the kind of attention that really would hurt the investigation," said Wolford. "The warrant certainly is a massive overkill, but isn't the end of world; Sullivan probably uses it to simply rat Wilde out. The real investigation will begin when we find Nick and hear his version. And hopefully, we'll be able to clear his name then," Wolford assured.

"What are the moods in Precinct 1? Do they believe in his innocence?" Mrs. Wilde wondered.

"Like I said, I haven't been really there since the murder, but from what Fangmeyer claimed, people are… confused. They don't know much more than the news, so they try not to talk about it. I think they believe. Generally," Wolford explained carefully and old vixen nodded with understanding. She couldn't count on more.

"And you?" She asked.

"I've seen the scene and can't imagine that he'd be capable of it, Mrs. Wilde. Mentally, I mean," Wolford assured. "And Judy thinks this same, but I guess it's no surprise to you," he noticed with a smirk.

"What is she doing now?" The vixen asked.

"She took two weeks off, claiming that she was going back to Bunny Burroughs. To not interfere with the investigation. But if you ask me…" Wolford smiled meaningfully and it poured hope into old vixen's heart. So Judy was somewhere out there, looking for Nick. Probably finding him as they spoke and, together with her partner, solving the mystery of Thomas Reynolds' death. In the rain of horrible news that fell upon her today, it was a one positive thought to hold onto. That Judy was somewhere out there helping her son clear his name.


	6. Apply water to burnt area

_7.44 am. Thursday, August 22, 2020_

The first night on the run Nick Wilde spent being taken care of by Finnick. The second, not daring to contact any other friends, he slept under a bridge in Meadowlands, far away from curious sights of Zootopia's citizens. He dusted off his new jeans and shirt and checked the content of his pockets; two hundred dollars in the left and his police badge in the right. Everything was right at its place. He stood up and stretched slowly. Everything hurt. His bandaged chest, scratched in multiple spots legs, slashed up left arm and deeply bitten paw. A deep, slow breath he took caused him to start coughing up heavily and in result, spitting out some blood. He didn't even want to think in how many of his ribs were broken in that fight.

"I probably should look around for some quiet internet café," he muttered. "Buy some food, new bandages… Darn, it's so risky," he muttered. He was dirty and shaggy and had left paw covered in a bandage soaking with blood. He'd stick out and if police were searching for him, he'd get arrested in no time. But he had to do it. He had set everything up for contacting Judy, now he had to just…

"Are you alright, sir?" Asked someone carefully. Nick turned around fearfully and saw a young coyote in a school uniform carrying a backpack. He was staring at the fox with concern.

"I'm fine, kid. Aren't you supposed to be in school?" He asked.

"I was going there, but then I smelled blood and started following the trail, sir," young coyote explained. "I thought I'd check and…"

"It's alright, kiddo. You'd better go or you'll be late," Nick suggested.

"You're Wilde, aren't you?" Asked the kid and fox felt a chill running through his spine. From the tone of that boy, there was no way of convincing him he wasn't, so he smiled and sat down on the bank of canal instead.

"How did you know?" He wondered.

"They were talking about you on the morning news. They said they're looking for you. And I can see the badge in your pocket," the coyote pointed. "What happened there?" A young boy asked carefully.

"A lot of bad things, kiddo. I tried to protect Mr. Reynolds, got messed up myself," Nick explained and the coyote grinned.

"Ha! I knew it! You're the good guy here, aren't you?!" He exclaimed with a grin.

"Why so sure?"

"Because you're a cop! And you helped with that Nighthowler thing! You're not a bad guy!" The coyote explained with enthusiasm and Nick couldn't help but to smile. If only world was this simple.

"You've got a name, boy?"

"Timmy! Timothy Silver!" He introduced himself.

"Tell me, Timmy, would you like to help an officer in trouble?"

"Yes, sir!" The coyote saluted enthusiastically and Nick chuckled.

"Alright, then. I can't go up there and buy anything because they're looking for me now. But you could do that for me. Here, you've got some money. Go to shop, buy me some food. You know, for two or three meals. Remember to buy couple bottles of water. And go to a drugstore and get there some bandages and peroxide for my paw. And if there's a clothes shop in nearby, buy me some cheap shirt. Fox size M or something like that. You got it?" Nick asked him, as handing him seventy bucks.

"Food, water, bandages and peroxide and a shirt. Got it!"

"And tell no one that you saw me," Nick added.

"Of course, sir!" The coyote saluted again and started running, soon disappearing from Nick's sight. Fox hoped kid wouldn't just vanish with money, but he didn't really have options. He waited at his spot for next twenty minutes until kid came back with a big bag of shopping's.

"Is that enough, sir?" He asked and Nick smirked as looking down. There was lots of food. And the kid seemed to have fine taste when it came to clothing or he remembered Nick's photos from Nighthowler case, because he bought him a green Hawaiian shirt.

"More than enough, thank you. Keep the change," he suggested.

"Yes, sir!" Coyote's grin told him that there was quite a lot of money left in his pocket.

"Now, I'll need to change the bandage, but can't do it alone. You're not afraid of blood, are you?" Fox hoped.

"Not, sir! What to do?" He asked.

"Unwrap the bandage, but carefully," Nick told him. Young coyote grabbed his paw carefully, tied the knot and started unwrapping it slowly. Blood had already mostly dried and bandage now stuck to it, but Timmy was gradually tearing it off until they uncovered the wound.

"Eew!" He exclaimed and Nick wouldn't put it any better. It certainly did not look good. Under cover of blood dried in his fur, there was a curvy line of red dots, each signing a deep wound that hurt annoyingly, but it was the long-term effects that he should be worrying about; he didn't know if or when he'd be able to use his paw normally again.

"We've got to wash it now," Nick said and Timmy got a water bottle. He started pouring it on fox's paw and Nick carefully rinsed out all of the blood still left in his fur. Result wasn't perfect, but satisfying enough. Having done it, Timmy disinfected wound with peroxide. They dried whole his paw and young coyote started wrapping Nick's paw. The fox instructed him how to do it and they took care of it in no time. Nick watched his new bandage with a smirk.

"As good as new! Thanks, Timmy, you did an awesome work there!" He noticed enthusiastically and the kid grinned.

"No problem, sir! What are you going to do now?" He asked curiously.

"Find the ones that did it to me," Nick explained. His sight stopped at his pocket where his badge was; the badge that gave him away immediately to that boy. An idea came to his mind. "Say, Timmy, have you ever thought of becoming an officer?"

"Mhm! I dream of it!" He assured and Nick smiled. How conveniently.

"Well, then, you were brave and helped an officer in distress. I believe you deserve to be an Honorary Zootopia Officer," he reached for his pocket and found his badge. "It is yours now," Nick handed the shining badge to the coyote and grasped it carefully and stared at it with astonishment.

"Is it… is it mine?" He asked.

"All yours, Officer Timothy Silver. Now, here's your next task; hide this badge well and tell no one of it or our meeting. A lot depends on it. Are we clear?"

"Y… yes, sir!" Young Timmy saluted and looked back at the badge he was holding in his paw. Nick knew he wouldn't tell anyone.

"So go now, before your teachers get too suspicious," Nick advised him. The coyote bobbed his head once, hid the badge in his backpack and rushed back the way he had come. Wilde watched him with a slight smile. He now had enough food and water for few days, but he needed to find another place. Somewhere where school pupils wouldn't follow him by simply following trail of his blood.

* * *

 _10.12 Thursday, August 22, 2020_

Right after meeting Finnick, Judy took a bus to Meadowlands. There, she found what one day probably acted as a city park, but now was only an abandoned field of tall yellowed grass. Somewhere in the distant could be seen an old hangar where two years earlier some venturesome mammal opened Wild Times; an amusement park only for the chompers. While Judy was in this park only once before, she remembered it even too well. She remembered the sandy road that led her to a small bridge of stone going over a dried canal. It was the place where four years earlier, when after she had almost torn apart Zootopia with her accusation of predators going savage, having found the real reason behind the attacks, she found Nick. Back then, when she returned to Zootopia, looking for Nick was the first thing she had to do. Someone had asked her about it before by some journalist when they were already off camera; if Judy knew about Nighthowlers, why not to go straight to ZPD? Bogo would run investigation, find Duke Weaselton, get everything from him. Why to bother looking for Nick, when she had no idea where to even look for him and she did find him only by luck? It was a reasonable question and she remembered how she answered it; for Judy, Nick was necessity. Not for the sake of the case itself, but for her own. If she was to come back to Zootopia and undo all the harm she had done, she had to start with the one she hurt foremost. Without Nick's forgiving, none of it would matter to her one bit.

Judy clearly remembered her feelings from that time. She remembered the anxiety, as she was looking for him in there and fear of what she was going to do if she wouldn't find him there. She relived the relief of seeing him sitting just under the bridge, in his shades and with a cool drink in his paw. She remembered how she ran down to him, started explaining her discoveries and how only then did she realize the real damage she had done. As she walked under the bridge following the fox, she recalled how she apologized to him for the way she treated him, for a moment believing that she had lost him for good. And then, there came the relief, as she saw his smiling, waving that carrot pen of hers. But today, she felt no relief, saw no Nick sitting under the bridge. The faint hope of finding him here disappeared almost immediately and Judy returned to the reality.

"Nick brought me here for a reason," she said to herself looking around carefully. She walked under the bridge and looked around carefully, searching for a clue he might have left her. And then, something brought her attention; a red handkerchief sticking from under some stone. She recognized it immediately; she probably owed life to that piece of red cloth in which Nick put fistful of blueberries the day they confronted Bellwether and solved Nighthowler case. Judy lifted the handkerchief and saw a sheet of paper that was hidden under it. It said:

 _Find me at the Azure Cove day after tomorrow (Saturday) at 21.30. I'll be waiting half an hour, if you can't make it there on time then I'll be there on Sunday and Monday at the same time. Your login: , password: TootToot. Mine will be Blues99. Take care!_

Judy smirked reading it; she'd recognize Nick's handwriting everywhere, all capital letters except for those small, dotted "i"s of his that she'd sometimes point out jokingly. And those nicknames… It had to be him. What really intrigued her, was this "Azure Cove" thing, though. Given he mentioned logins and passwords, she assumed it to be not a real place, but a webpage. But what sort of webpage and how she'd find Nick in there, she had not a clue and she preferred to be not figuring this out on the run. Judy decided to call someone that could tell her something more about it.

"Kaylee, can you talk?" Judy asked, as hiding Nick handkerchief in a pocket.

 _"_ _A second, please. I'll come outside so I don't disturb others,"_ Kaylee Crane replied. _"Alright, I can talk now. I was about to call you; there's plenty of things you should know about."_

"What did you find?" Judy asked.

 _"_ _First off, about the murder of Mr. Reynolds; there happened something suspicious with the house service; all of them were called to take a day off, supposedly by Mr. Reynolds himself. Or someone that ran by his name. He did so sometimes, as he wanted to stay alone, but it still impairs the theory of Nick murdering in passion. Secondly, it looks like the blackout caused an error in surveillance system and wipeout of all recordings of the day."_

"How convenient," Judy muttered.

 _"_ _Isn't it?"_ Kaylee agreed. It was too suspicious to be just a coincidence. _"And the last thing is, Sullivan's partner searched through Nick's house a few hours ago, but found nothing interesting. And I think they're still assuming you're at your house in Bunny Burroughs, so that's one good thing."_

"The longer they believe it, the better," Judy agreed. "Anything more you've learnt? Maybe about Sullivan?"

 _"_ _I hadn't really time to dig in Sullivan's files; I'll sit to it today. In meanwhile, Fangmeyer and Barnes took over the blackout thingy and it seems like they're making some slow progress. They already have a lead connected with those devices someone left at power stations. And… there's something more. A real bomb,"_

"What is it?" Judy asked.

 _"_ _The night Mr. Reynolds was murdered, there was a prison break at Tundratown Penitentiary. Someone had dug a tunnel to the isolation wards and released two prisoners. Thanks to the blackout, there were no alarms triggered, buying them almost twenty hours of head start_. _ZPD will announce it to the world tomorrow,_ " Kaylee explained.

"Twenty hours?"

 _"_ _I don't know the details, but yes, whole twenty hours. Fangmeyer and Barnes obviously connected the case with the blackout."_

"And who were the runaways?" Judy wondered.

 _"_ _Now, that's the said bomb; Donovan Jacobs and Joshua Morrows,"_ explained Kaylee and Judy almost dropped her phone. Jacobs; the head and member of group that a year earlier stole the picture painted by Thomas Reynolds' wife freed in the same blackout during which Reynolds himself was killed and Nick framed. Could it be…

"That's no coincidence," Judy stated.

 _"_ _That's what those blackouts served for sure. The events at Reynolds' mansion could be opportunistic,"_ Kaylee suggested.

"No, whole framing Nick depended on lack of cameras," Judy disagreed.

 _"_ _Or maybe they intended to wipe it, but blackout did it for them. You don't know that for sure. Maybe even when you find Nick, you still won't."_

"Maybe," Judy agreed reluctantly. "Thanks for the news."

 _"_ _I aim to please, darling,"_ she replied. _"Now, what was that you called me for?"_ She wondered.

"I'm on Nick's trail. He left me a note that we're supposed to meet at Azure Cove tomorrow and gave me my password and our logins. I assume it's some sort of webpage, but have not a clue…" she started explaining.

 _"_ _It's a dating site, but a rather… unusual one,"_ Kaylee explained with a giggle.

"How so?"

 _"_ _It's main priority is privacy."_

"Isn't it usually a thing?"

 _"_ _Yeah, well, not like that. First off, there's no free singing up. Creating an account costs fifty dollars. Secondly, this site allows only written conversations, no cameras or voice recordings. And even the text you write, you can't copy it and save on your computer. Well, you still could try PrintScreening it, but it would be rather troublesome. And the last thing is, anything you read there disappears permanently ten minutes after first viewing. It only saves the nickname of mammal you talked to, but whole the conversation is gone. Whatever Nick writes you there, it will be gone right after you read it,"_ Kaylee explained.

"Isn't it a bit over the top?" Judy noticed skeptically.

 _"_ _Depends for whom. If you're having an affair, or your… specific love preferences could be shammed in the public, then you'd consider it a fair price,"_ Kaylee explained. _"And given its specifics it gathers all sorts of unusual preferences, making it even more attractive to certain groups,"_ Kaylee explained. _"So if anyone but Nick messages you, ignore it. You might be… freaked out otherwise."_

"Nick has bought already two accounts. It means he used his card to pay for it?" Judy wondered.

 _"_ _Most likely, but before Sullivan will trace it down, whole this case will be probably long finished. Those are some abroad servers that run Azure Cove and ZPD has no easy access there," Kaylee assured._

"And all I have to do is find some Internet café, log in at the right time and wait for him to message me?"

 _"_ _Mhm. Actually, that's very smart of him to use this sort of webpage. I'm kind of surprised that he knows of such a thing,"_ Kaylee noticed with amusement.

"Yeah, which raises an interesting question, Kaylee. How do _you_ know about this webpage and its… specifics?" Judy asked teasingly and for first five seconds, all that replied her was blunt silence. She'd give so much to see Crane's face right now.

 _"_ _I… Umm… had a friend?"_ The brown bunny stuttered.

"Uh-huh. And what was her login, _longing_for_a_canine99_?" Judy chuckled. "I know your choice of fiancé is unusual and you seemed to have a thing for Nick for a while…"

 _"_ _Azure Cove was a short and shameful episode of my life when I was young and naive, alright?!"_ Kaylee interrupted her angrily. _"And if you ever tell anyone, even Nick or Max… No, especially Nick or Max! If you do, then I swear…"_

"Hush, Kaylee, your sweet little secret is safe with me," Judy promised. "So, you say you weren't lucky about Azure Cove?" She wondered and Kaylee sighed with utmost frustration. She just had to ask.

 _"_ _Let's just say that first couple conversations were creepy enough to me to never ever come there again,"_ she explained reluctantly.

"I guess it will be one-use-only to me as well," Judy agreed with a smirk. "Thanks, Kaylee. Really. I know you have a lot on your head with Max's father dead…" Judy thanked her.

 _"_ _Don't worry about me. Talk to Nick, figure out what to do next. The sooner you find out what really happened there, the better it will be for the all of us,"_ replied Kaylee. _"I've got to go. Be careful out there, Judy."_

"So do you, Kaylee. Bye," Judy said and hung up. Once again, she looked down at the note that Nick had left her and hid it in her pocket together with red handkerchief she had found there. While she hoped that they'd actually meet, she was happy that Nick had figured out a safe way for the two to communicate, even if it meant a whole day of delay.

"I still have one more lead to check anyway," she said to herself, as climbing back up on the pathway and heading to the bus stop. Destination: Wheeler and Marvin Detective Agency.

* * *

 _7.43 pm. Thursday, August 22, 2020_

The doorbell didn't really surprise Max Reynolds; he had numerous guests in couple few hours, mostly friends and neighbors coming with condolences for his loss. The sight of a police officer in front of his door surprised him just a bit.

"Officer Reynolds?" Asked the horse standing in front of his door. His voice was harsh, probably from smoking, and he looked like he had been hardly sleeping for last few nights, but there was some disturbing determination in him, like he'd never back out from whatever he meant to achieve.

"Mhm," Max confirmed. "Detective Sullivan, I assume?"

"Indeed. May I come in?" The horse asked and Max invited him inside. "Is your fiancée home?" He wondered, but wolf shook his head.

"She's still at work," he muttered bitterly. He didn't like not having her here in time like that, but certainly was not going to tell that his visitor. "Do you want some tea?"

"Yes," Sullivan agreed as settling himself in the living room. "Miss Crane works in ZPD like you, doesn't she?"

"She's a Technical Officer in Precinct 1," Max confirmed. "Black, red, green, white or Honeybush? Tea, I mean," he added, seeing Sullivan's confused face.

"Umm… Black?" The horse replied with hesitation, clearly ignorant to subtleties of teas. The host disappeared for a moment in the kitchen and returned to the living room with two black teas and sugar. The horse thanked him, poured in spoonful of sugar and stirred it. "I know it must be hard for you, Max, but can you tell me about your father? What was he like?"

"Bitter," Max said without second thought and sipped his tea. "He was a son of millionaire raised in belief that he could have anything he wanted. He inherited profitable company, lived in a wonderful mansion, found a young and beautiful wife. Lived fast and took everything he could. And then, mom died to a disease. Father was broken. He shut his family off, focused on the company. Grandparents moved out from Zootopia just beforehand and never found it necessary to return. I and my sister had all the money we needed, but nothing more. He only started opening back to us recently," Max explained.

"When was the last time you saw him?"

"Last Thursday. We were supposed to go for the dinner together yesterday. I, Kaylee, father, my sister and her boyfriend. He seemed rather excited about it," Max's voice trembled, but he wasn't going to let his façade of calmness to slip. Not in front of another officer.

"Did he have any enemies?" Detective wondered and Max chuckled.

"That I know of? Dozens, Detective," replied the wolf.

"Call me James, we're both cops," suggested the detective. "Could you name the most… standing-out ones, Max?"

"Well, let's start with whole Happytown. I didn't know at first what was the deal with them, only that I really shouldn't be wandering around that place as a kid," wolf said.

"Well, it's not a safe district."

"Especially not to Reynolds. It was all because of an incident thirty years ago when my father killed Nick Wilde's dad in a car accident that he caused. He was pleaded innocent thanks to his army of lawyers and when Wilde's neighborhood wanted to protest, killed all his investments in the district. Happytown folks aren't all hearts of gold, but they do not forget," Max explained. "You must have heard of it."

"Yes, yes I did. Speaking of which, could you tell me about Nicholas Wilde? From what I know, you've been working together for a year," changed the subject James Sullivan.

"Yes, I met him after second day of my service, at Tom's bar. It's where Precinct 1 cops come on Saturday evenings. I liked him since the very start and I think the feeling was mutual," Max said and drank some of his tea. "We later worked on case of that picture stolen from National Bank, as temporary partners, even. We were getting along rather well."

"What's your general feeling about him? How you'd describe him?" Sullivan wondered.

"Charming, sly, inscrutable. Caring about friends, brave. I think he has some deeply hidden issues, but I don't know him well enough to tell for sure. Probably only his mother or Judy do," Max explained.

"You mean Judy Hopps, of course," guessed Sullivan and his host nodded confirming. "Have you ever spoken with Wilde about your fathers?"

"Once, right after we both learnt of it; I did from newspapers, Nicky from his mother. We cleared the air, made sure that we hold no grudge against each other. I honestly expected it to be the end of our friendship, but Nicky didn't let it get between us. He said that past should remain in the past and that I had nothing to do with it," Max explained.

"And do you remember what he told you about your father?"

"That…" Max hesitated. He didn't remember his exact words, but knew these wouldn't put his friend in positive light. "That he hates him for what he done. And given that my father killed his and refused to face consequences or even compensate for the loss, I'd consider Nicky liar if he claimed he felt any other way," replied Max.

"That's understandable. You know Wilde a bit. Do you think he'd be capable of murder?"

"No, I don't think so," Max shook his head. "Not even of my father. I don't believe he killed him. You'd need… you'd need some first-hand proof for me to believe it," warned the wolf.

"Sometimes our beliefs lead us astray, Max," replied the old horse wisely. "Now, could you tell me where you were at the night of murder?"

"At North Pole, pub in southern Tundratown. Male evening with high school classmates. You know, darts, beer, that sort of stuff. I have at least dozen witnesses for that," Max assured. He was aware that family of the victim was nearly always considered suspects and he didn't feel offended by the suggestion.

"And your fiancée?"

"Shopping with Judy. They drove to the power station immediately after the blackout. Again, numerous witnesses," explained Max, even if Sullivan had to know it by now. Double-checking?

"I see," Sullivan nodded with understanding. They discussed for a few minutes more, the old detective finished his tea and, having no more questions, thanked Max for hospitality, promised that he'd catch the murderer, bided him farewell and left. Max grabbed two tea cups and washed them slowly thinking of his guest. He liked Sullivan and while he seemed convinced of Wilde's fault, was willing to believe that horse could change his mind if new facts surfaced.

Done with cleaning, he came back to the living room, sat on couch and listened to silence of his new empty house at the Trip Street. He was at his lowest, tired and sorrowful. And fact that his fiancée had been at ZPD for last eight hours instead of taking at least a couple of days off wasn't helping one bit.

Wolf was about to grab phone and make another call informing of his father's demise (like someone hadn't heard of it yet) and details of the funeral, but then, he heard Kaylee's car outside. He looked out the window and saw her coming over and parking inside the garage on the first try like rarely. He watched her carrying two big shopping bags from mall. Max walked over to the front door and opened it for her.

"Ah, thank you, darling," Kaylee greeted him with a tired smile. He leaned forward and she stood on her fingers, so they could kiss and wolf took the bags from her.

"How was the day?" Max wondered.

"Crazy. They gave me that device responsible for blackouts to analyze. Barnes and Fangmeyer took over the case from WildeHopps, so at least that's someone I know well, but boy, this thing is hard," she explained. "I took care of flowers and Spice said she'd help us with funeral reception. She agreed it'd be for the best if we organized it in the mansion," Kaylee sighed with exhaust, as sitting on the couch in living room right next to him. "And how was your day?"

"Had a guest; Detective Sullivan. Unfortunately, couldn't tell him anything interesting. And I made a thousand of calls, I think," Max said. "If everyone invited actually comes, we'll have half of Zootopia at that funeral. Mayor Ketchikan requested that he could give a speech, too," Max said.

"Did he?" Kaylee asked, surprised.

"Mhm," wolf nodded, as unpacking the bags. He was slowly getting hold of where to put all those things. "They were classmates back in high school, you know. I think Mayor's going to name father an Honorary Citizen of Zootopia or something like that," he explained.

"I hope there won't be too many journalists there," Kaylee worried.

"That's what I told him. Mayor assured he'll ask ZPD to make sure there are no disturbances. And that he won't make a political show out of the funeral."

"How kind of him," Kaylee muttered sarcastically, but she appreciated it in her heart. "And if I may ask about something lighter, how's our dinner doing?" She wondered curiously and Max chuckled nervously.

"I know you left me all the ingredients and the recipe… and it was an easy one, but it… surpassed me. So, I ordered a pizza. It's in the oven, should be still warm," he explained awkwardly.

"Well, there was an attempt," Kaylee noticed. "Let's eat, then, huh? I'm starving," she suggested.

"Yeah, me too," Max agreed. They went to the kitchen and wolf took still warm pizza from the oven. They sat down to the table and ate in silence. There was something troubling each of them.

"What's your plan for tomorrow?" Kaylee asked.

"I still have plenty of calls to make tomorrow and I was invited by board of directors of Reynolds Industries for noon. Condolences and some corporate blabbering, I assume," Max explained and sighed. "And then, there's this… issue."

"Yes?" Kaylee watched him carefully.

"According to articles of incorporation, the new CEO of the company is supposed to be a child or sibling or the previous one. You know, so it stays in the family. The problem is, father had no siblings and Spice isn't too eager about it."

"You mean they'll want to make you one?" The bunny realized.

"Probably. I could try to fend it off with my IFF, but then they'll claim that I shouldn't be a police officer either. And I certainly don't want to make my illness public. A double-edged sword."

"Have you discussed it with Spice? Maybe she…" Kaylee suggested, but Max shook his head.

"She's not too eager either. I'll talk to her tomorrow before the meeting; try to persuade her… you know, I really could use your help there. You could take a day off tomorrow and come to Reynolds Industries with me," Max suggested.

"Um, well… I've got plenty of duties there, darling," she muttered evasively.

"What duties? Just give that blackout device to another Technical Officer. You said for yourself that you're not really into electronics," the wolf noticed.

"I can't really drop it now, Max, I just…"

"Well, Wolford had no trouble dropping his case to help Spice," he pointed angrily out and it annoyed his girlfriend more than it usually would.

"Yeah, because Wolford had a super important case of stolen carpets on his head! I am doing something important there, you know?!" Kaylee raised her voice. Normally, she wouldn't shout but now she was simply… tired.

"Really?! And what is it?" Max demanded to know.

"Something important," Kaylee replied. She didn't want to tell him about Judy and drag him in whole the thing. He had enough on his head.

"Oh, is it?! And it's so important that no one can do that for you?! And that you can even tell me?!" He snarled back. He was angry with her and in back of her mind Kaylee knew that he had every right to be.

"Imagine that yes, it is!" She shouted back, ignoring the voice of reason. Her fiancé stared at her coldly for a moment and snorted angrily dropping his slice of pizza.

"Yeah, I guess you don't have to tell me," he muttered and stood up from the table. "Do your job at ZPD, I'll take care of the company on my own," he snarled and left the kitchen. Kaylee sat at her seat in silence not daring to follow him even with sight. A few seconds after she lost him, she jumped startled with the slam of outer door. Kaylee hid her face in paws and sighed deeply.

"Congrats, Kaylee, top-notch situation defusing," she muttered. She knew her fiancée had really hot temper, but she wasn't fair toward him either. Realizing her fault, she sat in her place for a few minutes more, until she decided to clean the kitchen up. She put the remaining pizza slices back in the oven, unpacked the shopping bags as none of them had done that earlier and sat on a couch in living room, deciding to wait for Max there. At first, she tried to watch some TV, but she could find nothing interesting there. She then grabbed her long-neglected novel, but couldn't read a page without returning with her thoughts to Max. After twenty minutes of struggle, she decided to search for him. She dressed in a sweater, grabbed a phone, locked the house and walked down the street hoping that she had an idea where he was.

She found him a couple minutes later in nearby park, sitting on a bench and looking up in the stars. Bunny sighed deeply and came over. She sat right next to him and he seemed not to mind, but didn't look at her either.

"Not going to bed? You need to get up early, if you're going to ZPD," Max noticed and Kaylee sighed realizing that as passively aggressive he was, she deserved it.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"It's fine," he muttered, still watching the stars.

"No. No, it's not," Kaylee refused. "I love you. I should trust you and support you and I… I did neither. It's just that… I know you're having some real hard time recently with your dad's death and I'm worried sick about you and I've barely slept last night and I'm tired, jumpy and… I'm babbling, am I not?" She realized. Max looked down at her and smiled weakly. That was a good sign.

"I like when you're babbling," he encouraged her.

"And I… I didn't want to burden you with my own problems," she finished a bit more confidently.

"What is it that you're doing at ZPD?" He asked.

"Sort of spying for Judy," Kaylee explained without a second thought. "She's looking for Nick and thinks that Sullivan might be trying to frame him. I'm trying to help her. I didn't want to involve you because you already have your own troubles and…"

"Thank you," Max replied and she could tell that he actually meant it. "But you could have just told me, you know."

"I… I know. I thought it would be better that way, but I was wrong. And about the company, I'll take a day off and go there with you."

"You don't have to, it was just an idea."

"If my presence makes you feel more comfortable, then I'm going with you," Kaylee insisted and Max chuckled.

"Well then, consider yourself invited. But what about Judy?"

"I'll go to ZPD on the afternoon. I will dig out everything I know about the progress of investigation and as much as I can on that Sullivan. Then I'll take a week off. I don't need access to ZPD database to help out. And even if I do, then I'll figure something out," she explained and felt her fiancée's paw wrapping around him. She could feel how thankful he was.

"Is what you're doing even legal?"

"Questionably. But nothing's illegal as long as Chief doesn't know," Kaylee explained with a smirk and he chuckled.

"You're crazy, you know? You grab a rock, see a flock of birds and try to kill them all with a single throw," he told her.

"Isn't that why you love me?" She asked.

"No, that's something I'm trying to cope with," he replied half-jokingly. "Really, Kaylee. Even Judy knows you can't save the entire world at once," he blamed her and for a moment, Kaylee remained silent.

"You know why I'm doing it," she muttered finally and, with him listening, continued. "I… no, it's silly."

"No feeling is silly, Kaylee," Max reminded her. "Haven't we established that before?" Kaylee watched him carefully and smiled gently.

"I… I don't come from a happy family. I mean, they were happy… but they hated me. And so did everyone in school. I had, like, one friend in high school."

"Shay?" He guessed, but Kaylee shook her head.

"Spencer. You don't know him and I never talked about him because… because I still regret how it turned out eventually. I liked him and he seemed to like me too for a moment, but… things didn't work out. No one's fault, just… the way world works. Neither of us was brave enough to fight for the thing. If there ever was the thing, that is," Kaylee explained, awkwardly realizing that she was telling her fiancé about her previous crush. "Umm…"

"Don't leave me hanging," Max encouraged her, not minding one bit.

"So, what I wanted to say is, I… before ZPD, I never got any real validation. No one ever said: _Wow, you're smart_ , or _Hey, that dress looks good on you_ or… things like… this…" She played with her thumbs awkwardly. "But in ZPD, everyone started appreciating me all at once. And it felt nice. They liked me. They thought I'm funny. Quirky, but funny. Or that I'm smart. Or that my shooting skills are awesome. And… I guess that's why I'm trying to make everyone happy. I like hearing it. I want to keep hearing it, because when I don't, I…" The bunny paused, searching for right words. "I'm suddenly feeling bad with myself. I feel like I don't matter, I'm stupid and ugly and…" And then, she felt Max hugging her strongly.

"You're clever and you're beautiful, Kaylee. And I love you," he promised, kissing her on the cheek and she smiled blissfully. For a moment, hey lasted it silence, enjoying the moment.

"And I am so proud of you too, darling. You did so much for us," Kaylee assured, nuzzling him tenderly. "You worked so hard, gave up on so many conveniences you used to have and…"

"Have temperament of a landmine. Sorry for bursting out like that," he interrupted gloomily.

"Max, it was nothing…"

"It was unfair," he corrected her. "I'm frustrated, but it's no excuse. So… Sorry," he said, hugging her a bit stronger.

"Apology accepted," Kaylee assured, laying her head on his breast. They sat on the bench in silence for a while and bunny started moving, trying to find the most comfortable position. Max never expected her to be this… cuddly. Not that he complained.

"Max, I'm going to need your tail," Kaylee mumbled dreamily after a while.

"And what for, if I may ask?"

"It makes for a wonderful duvet, you know," she explained.

"No, no, no, you're not sleeping here. In ten minutes you'll be freezing and I can't have you ill now. Come on, Kaylee, move it up!" He tried to encourage him, but she only cuddled him stronger.

"You're too plushy. I could stay here forever," Kaylee disagreed.

"Or I could carry you home, make you some warming tea with lemon, orange, clove and ginger and then, we'd lie down on the couch watching TV. Then you can fill whatever mischievous plans you have for my tail," he offered, but Kaylee didn't reply. For a moment Max thought she fell asleep.

"Fine, you may carry me home," the bunny agreed after a long pause. "But we're playing Fur Cry 4 and this time, I'm the player one," she bargained.

"Sounds fair," Max agreed. "So, heave-ho!" He took his fiancée in paws, stood up from the bench and started carrying her back home. "Good thing you're still so light. You know, despite the ongoing tendency," he teased her. "The first time we met you were skin and bones and now…"

"A word more and you're sleeping on the couch, darling," Kaylee warned him.

"But that means no tail-duvet," Max pointed out her inconsistency.

"You got me there," Kaylee agreed reluctantly. The wolf carried her back home, made some delightful tea for the two of them like he promised and then, they sat down at the couch and played on their console together. Kaylee started drifting away sometime around the midnight practically laying on him with the pad still in her paw her fiancé's tail wrapped around her like a fluffy scarf.

"Time to call it a day," suggested the wolf.

"Mhm. Carry me to bed? Pretty please?" Kaylee muttered.

"How could I refuse?" He asked and they shared a smile. They still had a lot before them, plenty of ups and downs, but at the evenings like this, they knew that they'd make it. Whatever world was going to throw at them, they were going to make it.


	7. Blame the fox

_9.47 am. Friday, August 23, 2020_

"One of the most popular cliché statements about the police work is that criminals always return to the crime scene. Sometimes, given certain crimes of passion like arson, it's true. But usually, it's quite the other way around: it's the cops that always return to the crime scene," muttered to himself Detective James Sullivan, as he stood before the Reynolds mansion and slammed the door of his police car. He took out a cigarette, lit it, took drag and breathed out a cloud of grey smoke, which sudden gust of wind blew in face of his partner, Victoria Hamilton. She coughed and he smirked.

"You're smoking like a chimney, sir," the panther muttered. "It'll kill you someday."

"You have to die to something," Sullivan said and walked toward Wilde's car, still parked before the residence, but covered in a thick layer of the snow. "Let's rehearse what we know of the murder again, shall we?" He suggested and, not waiting for her response, continued. "Tuesday afternoon. Thomas Reynolds, as usually on Tuesdays, does not go to Reynolds Industries, but stays in the mansion. Around… 2 pm he calls off all the service with a text. Why?" The old horse glanced back at his partner, while she browsed her notes.

"Umm… according to service, he's been doing it frequently in recent months. Some of them seemed to imply he was falling to depression due to his children leaving the house," panther read. "Anyway, he wanted the mansion to be empty."

"And so it is until approximately half past seven. At that time…" Sullivan wiped some snow from Wilde's car's window and looked inside. "Arrives Nicholas Wilde, fully equipped and in police uniform, even though he is off-duty at the time. Why, remains unknown."

"Maybe we should ask Hopps?" Suggested Officer Hamilton.

"She won't tell us a thing. And since she vanished into thin air, we won't even get a chance to ask her," dismissed it Sullivan.

"We really should search for her, sir. She could guide us right to…"

"Then find her, Hamilton. Go on and find her for me," old horse interrupted her impatiently. "Good luck. Even finding the fox will be easier and we'll get to her in time," he said staring her dead in the eyes and he saw her fists clenching, but she did not protest. "Now, where were we?"

"Wilde arrives," she said through her teeth.

"Indeed. Wilde arrives, comes in through the main entrance," as he spoke, they walked inside the mansion; Sullivan had requested the keys for the sake of the visit. Hamilton followed him and they marched through the corridor to the Haddock gallery, or what remained of it.

"Wilde finds Reynolds here," Sullivan stopped in the middle of the room. "They talk. Sometime around here, the blackout strikes. Due to a server error, that day's recordings are lost."

"Convenient," Hamilton noticed.

"Lucky, rather," agreed Sullivan, as rarely. "And then, fight ensues. We don't know how it starts, but we do know how it ends. Reynolds falls with his throat slit. He's bleeding out slowly. In his paw, he holds Wilde's name plaque and shreds of his uniform's cloth, his claws are covered with fox blood and strands of fox fur. While he's slowly dying, someone… Wilde presumably… dismounts all the paintings and stacks them in front of the wolf. He sets them on fire with a lighter of unknown origin, which we have found in the ashes…"

"Along with Wilde's car keys," added Hamilton.

"We'll get to it," dismissed it Sullivan. "Due to paint and canvas, they burn like a huge bonfire. The fire alarm doesn't trigger because of the blackout. Reynolds is still conscious at the time and watches them burn; according to the autopsy, he breathed in some of the smoke to the point of choking on it and passing out. He later dies of bleeding out," Sullivan said, standing before the black mark after the huge fire. "Wilde then takes the last painting, Number 3, and writes on it with Reynolds' blood a single word: murderer. Ironic, isn't it?" He smirked.

"And then, blood mist disperses," Hamilton ignored his remark.

"Yes, shock wears off. Wilde panics. He runs back to the car, but can't find the keys."

"Lost in the fire," Victoria Hamilton repeated.

"Indeed. Wilde runs back through the mansion. He leaves with the back gate, stops by the street. He triggers no alarm only because there's no power. Someone picks him up, but we can't tell who. No CCTV due to the blackout. And now, Wilde remains on the run. Sounds plausible, but there's one problem, isn't there?" Sullivan, for the first time, actually asked his partner about his opinion.

"The fight scene," panther pointed toward the gallery door. "There are two fight scenes in fact. Over here and by the door. It looks as if there were two fights held in here, not just one. It could have just dragged on, though."

"It could be. Reynolds could have tossed Wilde through the room at the point," Sullivan agreed. "But then… that fox left traces in pool of Reynolds' blood when it had already partially congealed, at least an hour after being spilled."

"Maybe Wilde was wounded too? He could have passed out for a moment. Hopps claimed Wilde was calling her around 1 am," suggested Hamilton. The old horse was thinking intensively.

"Perhaps… perhaps. But he wouldn't be calling her from inside the mansion, since she has no car. Something's off here. Something doesn't quite fit in."

"You're not thinking he hadn't done it, are you, sir?" Victoria Hamilton asked carefully, while Sullivan crouched by the burnt mark and estimated the floor carefully.

"No. He was here at the time. He is now running away," Sullivan stood up slowly and reached for another cigarette. "You go to Mrs. Sylvia Wilde in the afternoon. Try to find what she knows and I beg you, try to be subtle for once."

"What about you, sir?" She asked, but he replied nothing. He had his own means of finding Wilde. Means that he didn't have to share with young and naïve Officer Hamilton.

* * *

 _11.22 am. Friday, August 23, 2020_

The visit to Zootopia University turned out surprisingly fruitful to Barnes and Fangmeyer. When they presented the blackout device to the Student Circle of Robotics, the students there, among bountiful of other suggestions, quickly agreed on a single name: Spencer Young, the chairman of SCR until a year before. He not only was one of the best in Zootopia, but had extensive knowledge on the issue of blackouts; someone even mentioned that his bachelor thesis was an additional security system for power stations preventing such incidents.

With this lead, Barnes and Fangmeyer checked Spencer's address and drove to his house in Happytown. Young lived in a flat at the very north of district. Fangmeyer parked the car at a nearby parking and found Young's tiny house. Barnes knocked at the door and heard a muffled reply.

"Come in! It's unlocked," shouted the host and officers stepped inside. The flat was small, but had its charm; freshly renovated, painted in warm colors and with the new, elegant furniture in the hall assured police officers that Spencer Young was earning some fine money. Police officers waited for the host who left the bathroom wearing only shorts, drying off his head with towel. At first, both Fangmeyer and Barnes could swear he looked just like Wilde and only after a second they started noticing differences; bitten brown ear or big bite mark on his right arm.

"You don't have to knock, Scarlet…" Spencer Young interrupted in the middle of word, staring at two officers with confusion. "Well, you're not Scarlet," he stated the obvious. Good start of every conversation.

"Detective Barnes and Officer Fangmeyer, ZPD. Do you have a moment to talk, Mr. Young?" Asked the tigress, smiling warmly. The fox bobbed his head once with hesitation.

"Sure, if you're already in… Wait in the living room, please, I'll go put a shirt on," he excused himself and, as he turned around, officers watched long scars all over his back. They went to the living room, sat on a couch and waited there, looking around. Just like the hallway, it was freshly renovated and Young seemed to have pumped a lot of money in it.

The host joined them after a minute dressed in a shirt and carrying three glasses and a bottle of orange juice. He poured some to his guests and himself and sat on a chair opposite to them.

"Just finished overhaul?" Noticed Barnes friendly and Spencer nodded with a smile.

"Yeah, I spent last three weeks renovating everything. Lots and lots of work and even more money," he explained and laughed awkwardly. He seemed strained. "Is it about the Mauler again? I thought I've already explained everything," he watched them nervously.

"The Mauler? You mean, oh… you were one of the victims," Barnes realized and the fox nodded. "No, we're not here to talk about the Mauler," he assured and the fox relaxed.

"Who are we talking about again? I think I might have missed it?" Asked Fangmeyer.

"That serial murderer that rampaged through town two years ago. I think you were on that exchange then, so you might not remember," explained Barnes. "He targeted students, attacked them usually after they left the clubs in the night. He would maul them to death just for the sake of killing. He killed fifteen mammals over three months…"

"And I was supposed to be sixteenth, but I fended him off," explained Spencer. "A few weeks later, I was accused of actually murdering that wolf in self-defense. The officer in charge, some nasty old horse, quickly backed out from the accusation, but the damage was already done," replied the fox bitterly. "How easy it is to accuse, isn't it? And my only fault was that I survived."

"ZPD also makes mistakes," replied Barnes.

"Has the Mauler been even identified in the end? I stopped following the news at some point," wondered Spencer, but sheep shook his head.

"He vanished into thin air soon after failing to kill you. With no other witnesses, the investigation led nowhere. But we're here to discuss much more pleasant case, Mr. Spencer. And much more recent," assured the sheep.

"Your old friends in SCR claimed you to be an expert in electronics. I wonder, could you tell me what this is or who made it?" Fangmeyer brought out one of the devices used to cause blackouts. The fox grabbed it and watched carefully from both sides.

"Soldiering seems rather amateur and shabby, might have been even their first job ever," he stated just the thing his friends from SCR had said before. "The usual components from web… Have you tried writing down the list of used components and asking the Internet shops for such purchases?" Suggested the fox and both officers shook their heads.

"You could try it. It's not too promising, but you never know… Wait, it's connected with the blackouts, isn't it?" Realized Spencer and both officers confirmed.

"How do you know?"

"It's designed to cause short circuits and burn whatever it's attached to. And you said it's connected with recent case," explained Young putting the circuit board down and sipping some of his juice. "I have written whole chapter on this type of devices in my thesis. Wait a second, I'll bring it and show you," he stood up from chair and rushed back to his room. Fangmeyer and Barnes exchanged smiles. Now that seemed promising. Young returned with printed version of his thesis in ornamented cover. He browsed it, found the proper section and opened it to the officers.

"Here you go. I could send you a pdf version, if you need it," Spencer offered. Barnes and Fangmeyer started reading it, but whole this electrical stuff was jibbers to them. They suddenly regretted not taking a Technical Officer with them.

"We're hardly specialists in this sort of things, Mr. Young. Could you explain it to us a bit?" Pleased Fangemyer. Fox smiled politely and proceeded to explain them the general concept of the device. And then, he froze in the middle of explanation, as if realizing something.

"Something's wrong?" Wondered Barnes.

"It's right here," muttered Spencer. "The device you brought. It's blueprint… it's from my thesis!" The fox exclaimed. "Just look at it, it looks just the same! Someone copied it, soldiered it in his house and used it to cause the blackouts!"

"Who has access to your thesis?" Asked Fangmeyer.

"Everyone. I agreed to make it public. You just visit university's website, search my name or the subject and you can find it there. Or you can go to the university's library. The thesis focusing mostly on grid security, so I figured the more mammals could see it…" Spencer hid his face in paws. "I did… I did not think…" The fox stuttered and neither Barnes nor Fangmeyer doubted his honesty for a moment.

"That helps us a lot, actually. If we know where he took it from, we'll know where to look for the mastermind. Downloading the thesis is one thing; knowing about its existence is quite another," noticed Barnes.

"I guess," muttered the fox. He still seemed shocked by the news.

"Mr. Young, could you tell us where you have been on Wednesday night?" Asked Fangmeyer carefully, but fox's ears and tail perked up in alert almost immediately.

"You think I did it?! What, because I'm a fox?!" He yelled and gesticulated angrily, spilling his glass. "Ah, curse it!" He grasped a nearby napkin and tried to dry the table. "Why in the world would I even show you my thesis then, huh?!"

"Mr. Young, it's a standard…"

"Yeah, standard question and the next thing I know, I'm lying on the ground tranquilized! I know how you guys work! Found the fox, blame the fox! You barely saw Reynolds' body, you blamed Wilde for it!"

"It's not that…" Fangmeyer protested.

"And I guess I'm his accomplice now, huh?! I killed the power, he killed the wolf! I can already see the headlines: Gang of foxes murdered known millionaire and philanthropist, Thomas Reynolds!" Snarled Spencer Young angrily.

"You're not accused of anything, Mr. Young," assured Barnes. "We ask everyone about it, just for the sake of formality. You helped us a lot this far. Just answer us one more question and we're gone," promised the sheep. Spencer clenched his fist, but then closed his eyes, took a deep breath and sat down, still shaken up a bit.

"I'm sorry, I just… I have awful memories with police and their ways," he stared down resentfully. "I was in cinema with my girlfriend, Scarlet Calveit, at the time of blackout, beyond its reach. We watched End of Time. Wonderful movie, but I hated that Irving dies in the end," he muttered. "Now if you excuse me, I need to… calm down."

"We will not be bothering you anymore," assured Fangmeyer. All the three of them stood up, exchanged pleasantries and Spencer Young led his guests to the door. He apologized for his outburst once again and wished them good luck on the case before closing the door behind them.

"So what do you say about him?" Barnes wondered.

"That outburst in the end… He was tense for whole the conversation, but I certainly did not see that coming. He seemed such an easy-going fella," Fangmeyer explained.

"He had a hard time with police during the Mauler thing," explained Barnes as they got into the car. He started looking the thing up on his phone while Fangmeyer started the engine. "Yeah, found it."

"What happened there?" Fangmeyer asked.

"A few weeks after the clash with Mauler which he barely survived, police officers came to the University to question him. They had suspicions that he actually killed that murderer back there and wanted him at ZPD. Young refused; he was chairman of SCR at the time and they were in the middle of the meeting. Officers insisted, but he continuously refused, asking to come an hour later," explained Barnes.

"So?"

"So they tranquilized him, knocked to the ground, handcuffed and pressed actual charges in front of whole SCR, including that girlfriend of his," read Barnes. "They had to cancel the charges soon due to lack of evidence and he didn't sue anyone, but…"

"The damage was done. Who was in charge in that case, again?" Asked the tigress.

"Sullivan. This same Sullivan that's leading case of Reynolds' death now," explained Barnes.

"Now that's adding insult to injury," muttered Fangmeyer. "You don't think he's involved, do you? Spencer Young, I mean," she wondered and Barnes shook his head.

"He'd have no nerve to plan half of the thing. You saw how he reacted to our friendly visit. If we'd come with actual proof, he'd spill it all immediately. No, I don't think it was him. Someone used his work. He'd never lead us to himself if it was him anyway," decided sheep.

"So now to his girlfriend? For a couple of control questions?" Suggested Fangmeyer and Barnes nodded.

"It won't hurt. Just to be sure."

* * *

 _1.03 pm. Friday, August 23, 2020_

 _"Spencer, what the hell! There was police in my house! You were supposed to warn me!"_ Scarlet Calveit scolded her boyfriend through the phone. The fox lowered the volume a bit, once again realizing how loud she could yell if she wanted.

"You wouldn't act surprised like you're supposed to. How did it go?" He asked, rocking in his chair and sipping orange juice.

 _"Without a problem. They didn't ask much, just a couple of innocent questions,"_ she replied. _"And you? They mentioned you were pretty nervous. That must have made them quite suspicious."_

"Quite oppositely. They'll doubt if I'd be even able to pull it off now and they think that I helped them a lot. I'm as far away from being a suspect as it's possible. For now. How are the others?"

 _"I'm keeping an eye on Kaylee Crane and she seems to have done nothing, but Gerard couldn't find Wilde anywhere and he had a bit of clash with Duchess's men. You know, his old boss, after all. Jacobs is still looking for a buyer. Speaking of Wilde, I still don't understand why did you let him run away in the first place? You should have just killed him and…"_

"That would lose any point," disagreed Spencer tersely.

 _"Lose any point? Our point was to frame him and he's out there, gathering evidence…"_

"And playing the role of fugitive, giving the media all the time in world to drag him through the mud. It doesn't matter what he finds out, but what city does. And ZPD already declared him accused of murder. A couple days more and whole city will consider him guilty. And in meanwhile they'll praise Thomas Reynolds to the skies and make a martyr out of him," Spencer explained. "Just give them a couple days more."

 _"What for?"_

"For the proper effect," explained Young.

 _"I don't understand,"_ muttered Scarlet angrily. Spencer knew that she didn't understand. As much as she loved her vision of him, she never really understood him one bit.

"Trust me," he pleased. "I've been thinking of what you've suggested about Crane. I'm not sure about the idea, but we can consider it as a backup plan."

 _"When are we doing it? The stage three?"_

"We need to wait for Wilde to catch up," he disagreed.

 _"And then, I'll show that cheeky rabbit!"_ Laughed the pronghorn triumphantly, but Spencer wasn't half as enthusiastic about it.

"Crane's a back-up plan. Keep an eye on her and Hopps, Scarlet, and tip me off if they find anything peculiar about our cop," he pleased.

 _"Don't you worry about them or ZPD. The investigation will lead them all straight to Wilde,"_ promised Scarlet.

"I love you, Scarlet," the fox assured.

 _"And I love you, darling,"_ replied the pronghorn. _"Bye,"_ she said and hung up. Spencer smirked as he rocked in his chair, as he dialed another number. As he waited for someone to pick up, he thought of the team he had. Scarlet didn't understand him one bit and Gerard didn't even care about his real motivations; the Mauler just wanted to maul. Jacobs and Morrows believed it was simply about the money. None of them would know what it really was about till the very end, but it didn't matter one bit, for they all were going to dance as he played.

"Hello, Detective. Any progress yet?" Spencer asked finally.

* * *

 _2.05 pm. Friday, August 23, 2020_

Just a couple streets from Spencer Young's house parked another police car. Victoria Hamilton, a black panther that had started her police career by side of James Sullivan four years earlier, entered one of numerous blocks of flats in Happytown. She climbed the stairs quickly, found the right flat and rang the bell. The door opened after a few seconds and revealed an old vixen in an apron. She estimated her guest carefully and her sight stopped at the plaque with name.

"Officer Hamilton, ZPD. Do you have a moment to speak, Mrs. Wilde?" Asked the panther.

"Please come in," vixen invited her in politely and guided to the living room. The panther looked around. It was modest, but taken care of.

"You have a lovely apartment," Hamilton admitted to warm up the atmosphere.

"It used to be livelier when my son lived with me. Oh, the old days," Mrs. Wilde agreed without a hint of bitterness, even though she had to know who the panther was. "Would you like some tea?" She offered.

"No, thank you. I've just finished my coffee," refused Victoria Hamilton.

"Now, that is impolite to the host, officer, to refuse an offer of a warm drink. Especially when the host would surely want to drink some tea as well and you're denying her the right," reprimanded her Mrs. Wilde. "Young ones these days, no manners at all," Mrs. Wilde shook her head slowly.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Wilde, but could we…"

"Let's try again; would you like some tea, officer?" Repeated her proposition Sylvia Wilde. The panther stopped in the middle of protests, rather dumbfounded. She probably had her for an old crazed lady by now.

"Yes, please," she muttered reluctantly and Mrs. Wilde smiled.

"Much better. I'll be right back," the vixen stood from her seat and walked to the kitchen. Victoria used this opportunity to look and around and what brought her attention almost immediately were the photos standing on a commode. The first one portrayed Mrs. Sylvia Wilde with her husband in the day of their marriage; the now old vixen looked very beautiful back then and had the spark that Hamilton could feel even now. Victoria passed by it and couple other ones featuring Mrs. Wilde with her family on various stages of their life to stop at the last one; it was from Nick Wilde's graduation day at the Police Academy. He was standing in his full uniform, with one paw embracing his mother and with another at shoulder of his new partner; Judy Hopps. The panther grabbed the frame and watched carefully. It was hard to imagine this cheerful, charming guy slashing Reynolds' throat in bloody fury, but…

"It's probably the only photo in last decade where Nick agreed to take his shades off," said Mrs. Wilde, startling her. She didn't even hear her coming back. "He claims they make him look cool, but I like his eyes. He has father's eyes, you know," the vixen explained, as seating herself. Victoria Hamilton watched the table; her host had brought two teas, some sugar and cookies.

"It's a nice shade of green," she admitted, putting the photo back and sitting down as well. She moved the cup a bit closer and watched the tea carefully, but did not touch it for the time.

"Now, you'd like me to talk about him, wouldn't you? You're obviously here not for tea or cookies," noticed Mrs. Wilde, as sipping some of her tea. The panther nodded.

"When was the last time you saw him?" She asked.

"A week before the murder in Reynolds' mansion. Nick was here with Judy at the usual Thursday dinner," Mrs. Wilde replied.

"Has he touched subject of Mr. Reynolds during that dinner? Or has he ever spoken of him before?" Wondered the officer.

"The only Reynolds he spoke of was his friend from ZPD, Max. After I told Nick details of his father's death a year ago, he never mentioned it again. When I asked him about how he felt about it recently, he explained that past should remain in the past where it belongs."

"And he never brought it up?" The panther wanted to make sure.

"Never."

"And it never bothered him?"

"Not ever, Officer. Nick's been through a lot. He knows that sometimes… it'd be best for everyone to simply let go," assured Mrs. Wilde.

"Do you know of any of his friends that Nick could try stopping at, if he wanted to avoid the police?" Wondered Hamilton, but Mrs. Wilde laughed at that question.

"Nick has a lot of friends in Zootopia, but I don't think he'd be stopping at anyone's place. Sometimes he likes to do things alone. Especially if it could get them in trouble like now," she replied. She realized that the officer probably doubted her words, but she hardly cared about it.

"You don't believe in his fault, do you, Mrs. Wilde?" Hamilton asked. Sylvia Wilde took her time to reach for a cookie and drink some tea before answering that question.

"Please tell me, what sort of mother I'd be if I questioned his innocence?" She noticed with a smile. "But it's not just my motherly instincts that claim he didn't do it. I know Nick well and I know what he's capable of and he's not. And he's certainly not capable of murder. Especially not of friend's father; he knows pain of losing parent even too well," explained Sylvia Wilde and then, estimated the panther carefully. "But you don't believe me, do you?"

"What I believe, doesn't matter. What I find out does," replied Hamilton.

"I'd disagree, but again, we're not here to discuss our beliefs," stated Mrs. Wilde.

"Do you know what your son may be up to now?"

"I guess I'd be trying to clean my name, if I were him. Find out the ones who are really behind it and gather evidence against them."

"And why not to entrust it to ZPD?"

"Apparently he knew he can't trust certain cops to believe him," replied the old vixen with a polite smile. "Maybe because they'd accuse him of the said crime in front of TV on the second day after murder?"

"I will not explain our methods to you, Mrs. Wilde," stated coldly Hamilton.

"Oh, I never hoped you would. I bet you have some clever scheme behind this apparent overreaction. And you've certainly left yourself space to clear my son's name, were the accusations to be proved wrong," hoped Mrs. Wilde, taking cold bitter satisfaction from her words. The panther stared at her coldly, but did not reply.

"When was the last time you saw Judy Hopps?" She asked instead.

"You haven't lost her too, have you?" She asked with satisfaction, perfectly knowing the answer. "I haven't seen Judy since the last Thursday and she hasn't contacted me since the murder either. For which I'm still disappointed with her, tell her if you meet her any time soon," she pleased.

"And you don't know where she could be now?" Victoria asked, but the vixen just shrugged.

"Not a clue, Officer. Probably chasing a certain foxy tail," she smirked and drank some of tea. She seemed to be taking some sort of grim satisfaction in ZPD's failures.

"Hopps isn't from Zootopia, though. She might have not as many places to stop by as your son," noticed the police officer, but Sylvia Wilde just shrugged again.

"Not any that I'd know of," Mrs. Wilde shrugged helplessly. "I wonder, wouldn't it be better to leave Judy to her own work? She will be looking for proofs of his innocence and, once she finds something crucial, will surely deliver it straight to ZPD," suggested Mrs. Wilde.

"She should leave finding evidences to the officers in charge or she might get herself in trouble. If she contacts Wilde, we might have to pull charges against her of assisting a culprit. It's for her own good too," explained Hamilton, but vixen sensed dishonesty in her words.

"Whole this case is very… shady, Officer. It has lots of unknowns. You surely don't mean to arrest her too just for remaining invincible," the vixen protested politely, playing with a half-bitten cookie.

"I won't have a choice, if she assists Wilde. The moment she helps him, I'm obliged to…"

"From your initial statement, I understood that my son left the mansion heavily wounded, didn't he?" Mrs. Wilde asked and after short hesitation nodded. "Could bandaging his wounds or seeking other mammals connected with the case really be counted as a crime?"

"Assisting a culprit remains assisting a culprit, ma'am. We all are bound by the letter of law," Officer Hamilton replied coldly, clearly indicating that these same laws applied to mothers too.

"Of course," Mrs. Wilde gave up reluctantly, even though she was still willing to argue. "You are investigating other hypotheses in meanwhile, aren't you?" She asked suddenly.

"Excuse me?" Hamilton was left dumbfounded with the sudden question.

"I mean, you don't have the recordings of events inside the mansion, so you can't tell what happened in there for sure. If so, you must be analyzing more than one… Oh, my," Mrs. Wilde interrupted, as the realization struck her.

"I think I'm not allowed to share our hypotheses just yet, ma'am," Hamilton was trying to save the situation.

"And I don't think you have anything left to share, Officer," replied Mrs. Wilde. "Do you?"

"We are analyzing at least two scenarios," the panther assured truthfully, if murder in passion and planned murder could be considered two different scenarios.

"Does any of them not include my son as the murderer?" Sylvia Wilde demanded to know. Hamilton opened her mouth to assure so, but something in old vixen's eyes terrified her suddenly and she spoke no word, but closed her mouth and turned her sight away shyly. The silence lasted.

"Of course," Mrs. Wilde sighed with frustration. "And if my son gives you another version of events, will you even bother to investigate it?"

"He'll certainly have plenty of time to prepare his story, ma'am," Victoria Hamilton regained courage to look her in the eyes. "The evidence we have is suppressing…"

"And you're set on shutting the case quickly. You want my son arrested, pleaded guilty and incarcerated, so you can tick off another success, get your promotion and forget about everything. I can see it in your eyes clearly, Officer." Sylvia Wilde confronted her.

"No offence, ma'am, but you have poor sight, then," Hamilton responded arrogantly.

"Funny, that would be the first." Mrs. Wilde finished her tea slowly and took a bite of cookie. "And seeing that you do not intend to help my son or Judy, I'm not going to tell you anything more than that," decided the vixen and Officer Hamilton felt it clearly; she wasn't welcome here anymore.

"I still have questions," she protested.

"It is shame, then, but I won't be able to help you." the vixen replied coldly. Hamilton clenched her fist angrily.

"If you're hiding anything involving your son, then…" the panther threatened her.

"Then you'll press charges against me too?" Mrs. Wilde chuckled at the idea. "Do it. Detain me for obstruction of investigation. Before evening, you'll realize you have no proof. Before morning, I'll be walking free again and before next afternoon you'll lose the case to actually competent officers."

"You overestimate yourself," stated Hamilton coldly.

"Then call my bluff," demanded Mrs. Wilde firmly and stared at Hamilton with a smirk.

"I'll have to invite you to the station for sake of further investigation," decided the officer.

"Thank you, but I won't be able to come. I'm very busy these days."

"If you don't…"

"Press charges or leave my house, officer. I will be tolerating your company no longer," Mrs. Wilde decided impatiently, as rising from her chair. She was tired of this pointless discussion. Victoria Hamilton stood up slowly as well. She stared at the old vixen and snorted resentfully.

"Goodbye," she muttered bitterly and headed to the door.

"One thing more, Officer," called her Mrs. Wilde and the panther stopped in the doorstep of the living room.

"Yes?"

"It is very impolite not to even sip host's tea, leave alone not saying a word about it. But I guess we'll have to work on that next time," the old vixen reprimanded her. The panther muttered something under her breath and left the house slamming the door. Sylvia Wilde sat down, reached for a cookie and took a bite thinking intensively. Victoria Hamilton was a dull and rude officer, but stubborn to gather evidence against Wilde and close the case no matter if he was guilty or not. That, combined with her partner being an experienced detective convinced of Wilde's fault, made her very dangerous to Nick. Not because she'd catch him, but because believing in his fault she was going to drag him through the mud in front of media and court, neglecting proof of his innocence, should there surface any. Suddenly, Mrs. Wilde wished she had means of contacting with her son or at least Judy, so that she could warn them.


	8. Of heroes and demons

_3.05 pm. Friday, August 23, 2020_

The Reynolds Industries occupied one of the tallest skyscrapers in whole Zootopia. Located in the very center of the town, from the windows of its top levels one could enjoy a wonderful panorama of Zootopia. And so did now Max and Kaylee, as they rode a glassed elevator by the northern wall of the building.

"I can see my old house from here," noticed Kaylee with a smile. "Those blocks of flats in Meadowlands, just by the canals. It's one of them," she pointed.

"Mhm," Max muttered blankly and Kaylee watched him with worries.

"Hey, it's going to be alright," the bunny encouraged him and grabbed his paw. "They can't force you into taking the position even if Spice refuses."

"The company was my father's life. It has to stay in the family," muttered Max.

"And I'm sure Spice is aware of it," assured Kaylee.

"Well, she didn't sound so in the morning," snarled the wolf. Kaylee didn't like when he was so cranky, but morning's quarrel with his sister justified his mood in her eyes.

"You don't have to make a choice today. Those things take time, don't they?" Kaylee tried to look at the bright side. "And even if you won't be a cop anymore, we're not losing any friends."

"I'm not worried about that or the lack of thrill, Kaylee. What troubles me is that if I take CEO's position with all its benefits, I'll be denying everything I promised you about our new house. I'll have ridiculous pay, probably will need to move back in the mansion and… might not have time for starting family," he explained fearfully. "I just took it for granted, you know, that dad would take care of Reynolds Industries forever and I could be living my own life."

"Well, we'll fight for it if we have to," declared Kaylee declared. "We'll figure something out," she assured and then, the elevator slowed and a gentle sound announced that they reached their destination.

"I guess," agreed Max with some doze of fear, as the door opened. The two of them walked to the end of the corridor and Max pushed heavy, tall door at its end. The couple stopped in the doorstep, as dozen of mammals of multiple species sitting in the meeting room turned their eyes on the two of them. Everyone was dressed in suits like Max or elegant dresses and jackets like Kaylee and rabbit was relieved in mind that she managed to fit in, at least with the clothes. One of the mammals, a not so young elk, stood up and approached them.

"Thank you for coming, Max. I am sorry for your loss," the elk shook Max's paw and patted him on shoulder.

"Thank you, Mr. Thunders," replied Max. "Kaylee, this is Mr. Fredrick Thunders, company's chief technology officer and my father's dear friend. Mr. Thunders, this is my fiancée, Kaylee Crane," he introduced them. Fredrick Thunders bowed before the bunny with respect.

"It is pleasure, Miss Crane, although I never expected to meet you in such tragic consequences."

"Neither did I, Mr. Thunders," replied Kaylee. For the moment the three of them stood in silence and Mr. Thunders encouraged them to take their seats; they had been placed left from an empty seat at the top of table; a seat of Thomas Reynolds. On its other side were seated Anastasia "Spice" Reynolds with her boyfriend, Jason Wolford.

"Now, with young Mr. Reynolds present, I believe we can start the meeting," stated Mr. Thunders. "Before we speak of business, in name of everyone gathered here and all employees of Reynolds Industries, I want to express my dearest condolences for your loss, Anastasia and Max. Your father was a wonderful wolf, bright, cunning and never giving up. He could be harsh and strict, but never unfair. He inspired all of us and were it not for him, none of us would be standing here. And now, I wish to propose a minute's silence in name of our dear friend, Thomas Ezekiel Reynolds," said Mr. Thunders and everyone stood up. For a long moment, they stood still in silence, most looking down on the floor humbly, as thinking of the deceased.

"Thank you," the elk said after a moment and everyone took their seats. "Now, I'll give the floor to Mr. Clark Newman, the vice-chairman of Reynolds Industries," he said as pointing to snow leopard sitting next to him.

"Thank you. According to Thomas's will, his position as CEO is to be passed onto one of his family and we will respect the bequest. With Thomas being the only child, the honor befalls on one of you, although according to Thomas's words it is not specified who precisely, so it would be the wisest choice to ask for your opinions first and then seek common ground that would satisfy everyone. Max, could you tell us how you feel about taking up your father's place here?" Asked Clark Newman.

"I…" Max looked down at Kaylee and she smiled encouragingly. "As much as honored I'd be by taking up my father's position and his legacy, I'm afraid I won't be able to do so. As of recently, I started a new stage of my life. I took up job at ZPD, established friendships in there. I engaged to my wonderful Kaylee, we're planning marrying and then, adopting children. I gave Kaylee a lot of promises I won't be able to keep if I join you here, ladies and gentlemen. I am sorry," Max told them and everyone nodded with understanding, as disappointing as it must have been to him.

"We understand. Anastasia? Could you tell us your stand?" Pleased the vice-chairman. Max already knew where it was going, though. She was going to refuse, because she didn't want to lose her freedom. They'd reach an impasse, waste an hour or two for a vain discussion and then be thanked, given condolences and a request to reconsider it all once more. And Reynolds Industries would either wait until one of them bends, Max more likely, to fill their father's last wish or find a way around and they'd lose the company. Max was already picturing this all as he watched his sister starting to speak.

"None of us here gathered expected such a turn of events. Neither did you, father's friends and coworkers, or we, his family," started Anastasia "Spice" Reynolds. "It hit me and Max double; not only we lost father, but we will need to take his burdens on our backs. It's even heavier given that we both took our time growing up. Max joined ZPD a year ago over a girl, treating it more like a bet than actual job. Only thanks to Kaylee Crane he started taking it all seriously. And I've been taking my time being a video blogger living off daddy's money. But there's time for everything. There's time to grow up," Anastasia turned her sight at her brother and he realized how wrong he was about her. "Max already did in his own way. Now it is time for me. I will feel honored to take up position of CEO and lead the Reynolds Industries. I have proper education, I've been watching dad work a lot. With proper guidance of father's dear friends, I believe I can become a worthy successor to him," she declared, bringing relief to the most of faces in the room, especially Max and Kaylee's.

"We're joyous to hear your words, Anastasia," assured the vice-chairman. "I assume you have nothing against it, Max?" Wondered Clark Newman.

"I don't. In fact, I am most relieved by her words," assured Max.

"Of course, these are just initial declarations, Max, Anastasia. If you ever change your mind, the board will respect the decision and…" Noticed Mr. Thunders.

"I am not backing out and I bet my brother's not changing his mind either," declared Spice and Max agreed with her immediately, satisfying the entire board. It certainly made things convenient to all of them, to not lose time over choice of new CEO. The discussions proceeded then to the formalities, when Max and Anastasia were informed how everything would look from formal point of view. Max barely listened, though. He just sat there wanting to hug his sister thankfully for the sacrifice she was making. And so he did immediately after the four of them left the meeting room an hour and half later.

"Whoa, Max, calm down," Anastasia muttered awkwardly and Wolford chuckled.

"You saved his marriage there, you know," he noticed half-jokingly.

"I never thought you'd just do it, Spice. I thought you didn't care," Max confessed.

"Like I said, there's time to grow up for everyone and I couldn't let our family lose the company or force you into taking over, Max," explained Spice.

"Thank you, Spice. I know it must be hard on you too," noticed Kaylee, but she just shrugged.

"I'll handle it," she assured.

"So, what do you say for the four of us going for a lunch?" Suggested Wolford. "Some nice and quiet time with family. I guess we all need it now."

"Lead the way, pal," Max agreed without a second thought.

"On my way," assured Jason Wolford, as they stepped inside the elevator and he pressed the ground floor button. "Hey, has that Sullivan been at your home recently?"

"Mhm. I talked with him. Why do you ask?" Max asked.

"He seemed like a decent fellow to me. You know, despite the first impression. I think he might actually lead this case well and find a real…"

"Let's not talk about it, could we?" Kaylee suggested. "I have enough of it as it is," she suggested.

"Yes, a bit of fresh air won't hurt for sure," agreed Spice expressing what Wolford might have missed at that moment; that whole this thing was taking a massive toll on both Anastasia and her brother without him bothering them with it.

 _6.40 pm. Friday, August 23, 2020_

The Wheeler and Marvin Detective Agency was located on a third floor of a small block of flats on Hailstone Street in Tundratown which Judy found with not much of a problem thanks to its advertisement just before the building. Judy climbed way too steep for her stairs, found the flat, knocked on the door and she walked inside to find herself in a small reception room with some old moose lady sitting behind the desk and writing something on her computer in impressive pace. Seeing a possible client, she interrupted her work and smiled politely.

"Wheeler and Marvin Detective Agency. How can we be of help?" She asked.

"My name's Susan White and I wanted to talk with Detective Wheeler," she explained, giving her a fake name; she wasn't wanted, but certainly didn't want ZPD to know of her actions.

"You weren't appointed, were you?" Asked the secretary leafing through her calendar and Judy shook her head.

"No, I'm afraid not. The thing came up rather… suddenly," she explained.

"I understand, give me a second," the secretary grabbed a phone from desk and called someone. "There's Miss Susan White to you, Mr. Wheeler. Mhm. Mhm. A rabbit. No, sir, I don't think so. Yes. Yes, of course. I'll tell her." The secretary put the phone back and turned to Judy.

"Detective's waiting in his room, first door on the left," moose pointed at short corridor right next to her. "You're lucky, he's been very busy lately and rarely accepts any guests," she added.

"Thank you," Judy smiled warmly and headed the corridor. She knocked on the first door on the left and, hearing an invitation, pushed it and walked inside. The room inside was a real mess. Whole wooden floor and a pin board covering most of the left wall were covered in photos, reports and loose thoughts written down on sheets papers connected to each other with colorful tapes creating in result some crazy web. Judy recognized Thomas Reynolds located somewhere in the center of the scheme. Just next to him, leaning against a desk with PC, was standing a snow leopard playing with a pen in his paw as he was analyzing the map of connections.

"Rubbish. All of this is rubbish. What I gave him wasn't even the half of the revelations I could have dug out around here. If I just had more time…" He interrupted in the middle of sentence and realized that he had a guest. "Ah, good afternoon, Mrs. White! Please step carefully. I taped the whole thing to the floor, but it's easy to ruin it anyway," he warned her.

"Working on some hard case, Detective?" Judy guessed noticing a photo of a sports car crashed against an old taxi and a single black bag next to them. Something ticked in her; that was Nick's father's death there.

"Yes. An old and long forgotten case that kept me occupied for last couple months. Lots of fun, as you can see, so I hope you don't mind that if you have a too big of a case, I'll have to give it up to my partner?"

"Not at all, sir," Judy assured.

"Perfect. What can I do for you, Mrs. White? Or Miss White, should I say?" The detective wondered, noticing lack of any ring on her paw.

"I came to ask you a couple questions revolving your job, actually. For my own investigation," she explained.

"Ah, a fellow detective, I should have recognized! I don't know if I'll be able to help, but feel free to ask," the panther agreed with a smile. He seemed rather honest.

"Could you tell me if you've been leading any investigations for Reynolds family recently?" Judy wondered. The leopard watched her carefully considering his answer.

"You're digging around the recent murder, aren't you, Miss White?" He guessed.

"I do. Could you answer?"

"I have never been contracted by Reynolds family. It is shame, they must pay well," he smirked. "But I do dig in their past, as you can see," Wheeler pointed down.

"On whose behalf, if I may ask?" Judy hoped.

"My client appreciates anonymity above all, Miss White. I'm sorry, but I cannot help here."

"No, you help out a lot," assured Judy. It was confirming one thing; back when Nick was invited to Reynolds', it was a bait with someone assuming Wheeler's identity to invite her partner. "Has there happened something suspicious around the time of Thomas Reynolds' murder? Something that could mean someone was trying to assume your identity?" She asked. Wheeler hesitated for a moment.

"Actually, yes. Yesterday, just after media published information about murder, one of my clients mailed me that my office phone isn't working. I checked it and it was fine. Only a couple of hours later our secretary figured out that there was a wrong number on our website. She corrected it quickly, but it is possible that someone could have hacked our website and used it to assume my identity with it. At least on phone," confirmed Wheeler.

"For how long?"

"Since Wednesday till Thursday noon. It does coincide with Reynolds' time of death, I guess," said the detective. "We have no means to check things like this on our own, so we called ZPD about it and increased site's security. But ZPD claims this sort of attack might be untraceable."

"I understand," Judy nodded. It confirmed her suspicions. Someone lured Nick in, but didn't wipe the traces well enough. Or didn't care to. "Thank you, detective. You helped me a lot," she assured.

"Sure thing, Detective White. Call me, if you need any other help. The number on our webpage is up-to-date now," leopard offered with a wink. Judy smiled and nodded slowly.

"I certainly will. Good luck on your case, Detective Wheeler!" She wished him and bided him goodbye. Now, that went much easier than finding Finnick and Judy didn't even care if Wheeler figured out her real identity. She had another piece of puzzle to what had happened during that fateful night. All she had to do now was waiting a day, talking to Nick and then, they could put all the pieces back together.

* * *

 _7.03 pm. Friday, August 23, 2020_

Detective James Sullivan didn't know Nicholas Wilde or his family district, Happytown, all that good. He knew, though, that if Wilde wasn't leaving town, he would require help in whatever he was plotting right now. And where else could he search for help if not from his local "mobster gone legit", Lady Jennifer Tompkins aka "the Duchess"?

The detective, even if he was a prey himself, didn't take his young and naïve partner Hamilton; he knew that Duchess was beyond species segregation and he couldn't afford to take to her someone as dull and innocent as her. Instead, he ordered her completely hopeless visit to Mrs. Wilde while he made a journey to nightclub "Diamond"; capital of Duchess's small empire. Detective Sullivan walked over to two tiger bouncers in suits. They looked like they knew how to fight and the old horse was aware that taking care of him wouldn't be much of a problem to them, were the conversation to go wrong. The tigers watched him suspiciously.

"We're not letting in just yet," warned him the one on the left. He didn't like Sullivan from the first sight and the feeling went both ways.

"I'm not here for partying. I wanted to meet with Duchess," explained the horse. Both bouncers stared him coldly for a couple of silent seconds.

"Your name and business," demanded the tiger.

"Detective James Sullivan, Tundratown ZPD. I wanted to speak with your boss," detective explained and one of the bouncers repeated it to his earpiece. He got an answer quickly and confirmed it.

"Duchess will receive you," he told the detective. The door opened and there appeared a fox in his forties that estimated the horse with his sharp, green eyes as police officer approached.

"Search him, boys," the fox ordered and Sullivan didn't resist as tigers proceeded to search him. They took his gun, phone and walkie-talkie. "We do not accept recording devices or weapons when speaking with Duchess. You will be returned those on your way back."

"Of course, Mr.…" The horse watched him expectantly.

"O'Dyna. Lionel O'Dyna. This way, Detective Sullivan," invited him the fox and the horse followed. Sullivan remembered the name; once a promising kick-boxer until his career was ruined when he supposedly killed his wife two decades ago. Lady Tompkins, aka "the Duchess" pulled her strings to help the case and find the actual murderer. In return, O'Dyna dropped his already ruined career and served her as her right hand. Incorruptibility proven empirically, his files said.

"I've heard a lot about you," Sullivan mentioned politely.

"Plausible. I have heard a bit about you too, Detective Sullivan," replied the fox as they climbed the stairs. It hardly sounded like a compliment, though. "When you speak with Duchess, keep it terse and polite. Don't wave badge around. Don't stare at the scar. Sit only if she allows. And I don't have to explain to you what happens if you disrespect her, I suppose," instructed him the fox strictly.

"Of course," assured Sullivan. He did his homework on Lady Tompkins and knew what subjects not to touch.

The club was still empty at the time except for baristas, bouncers located around the club and Duchess's personal guards they passed on the way to her balcony; predators of multiple species. Behind them, waited the Duchess; white wolf, writing something on her slim laptop, as she sat comfortably in her fancy couch. She was very slim and would look much younger than her actual forties, were it not for a large scar across her left eye and firm glare of the right one. Sullivan felt this azure eye of her piercing through him, reading him like an opened book. The Duchess smiled mysteriously.

"Look who came here. Detective Sullivan, Blizzard's best boy," she gave him a disturbingly toothy smile, as if she was considering shredding his throat to tears. "You do realize that my men aren't beating crap out of you right now only because you have me intrigued, I hope?"

"But of course, Lady Tompkins. I'm aware that our past…"

"To the point," she interrupted him with slight annoyance. "You're looking for Wilde. You assume that I have him. And for a reason I can't comprehend, you think that I'll give him away to you."

"Reynolds' murder was not your doing," the horse decided to test her patience.

"Sadly no, it wasn't," she confirmed.

"Which means that murdering him, Wilde acted on his own. Am I correct?" The horse asked. For a long, silent moment, the two were staring into each other's eyes.

"Yes. Under assumption that he did murder Reynolds, that is," she admitted carefully.

"And now, he's somewhere out there, causing havoc across the town. I know I stand for your old foes, ma'am, but this time, our business is common. We want this case closed immediately," he pointed out, but she didn't seem convinced one bit.

"You certainly do. Why should I care?" She wondered.

"Because if he hasn't come for your help before, then he will sooner or later. You will help him, because you owe him for murdering Reynolds. And then, we'll find out and bring you down," Sullivan explained. "And the one way you can avoid it is…" And then, Sullivan stopped in the middle of sentence, as Duchess lifted herself from her coach. If she thought he was afraid, then she was wrong, though.

"Do you know why I was able to become who I am?" Lady Jennifer Tompkins asked.

"Because you're merciless?" Guessed Sullivan and she laughed.

"Because I am the guardian of Happytown," she corrected him. "I am the one mammal that stands for the district when it is threatened by the likes of you," she stopped right before him, staring him straight in the eyes. "And I will not stop just because a Tundratown pawn claims it will be my undoing," she told him but horse just snorted angrily.

"You speak so highly of yourself, but you're just another gangster, Duchess, just like the Wolf Pack before you or those that come after…" Sullivan never saw the blow that brought him to his knees or who delivered it. Groaning painfully with paw wrapped around his side, he watched the Duchess crossing her arms. She looked angry.

"Watch your tongue, Sullivan," she threatened him, but he just smirked. It looked like she had really gone soft. Back in the old days, she'd have him pummeled to half-consciousness for comparing her to the Wolf Pack.

"I will," he lifted himself slowly. "I shall bother you no more," he promised lifting himself slowly, turned around and, with his ribs aching awfully, walked down the stairs guided by cold stares of Duchess and her henchmen. By the exit, Sullivan retrieved his equipment and returned to the car he had parked in nearby, analyzing how the meeting had gone. He eventually came to conclusion that it wasn't that bad. He didn't really count on actually getting her to sell Wilde to him; it wouldn't be like her. Still, he learnt something valuable; Duchess was more than eager to join the game. She just needed Wilde to invite her to the table. And once he would, Sullivan was going to drag her down with the fox.

* * *

 _8.17 pm. Friday, August 23, 2020_

With no more trails to follow for now, Judy returned to her newly rented flat in Sahara Square. On her way there, she bought a couple of newspapers though, wanting to find out what they were telling about Reynolds' murder. Back in the flat, she seated herself by desk, set the microwave to heat up her dinner, grabbed a pen and started reading, marking whatever she found interesting. She quickly realized she had probably wasted her money, though. It was way too soon for the newspapers to write anything interesting. Nick had been declared wanted at that day's morning, long after papers had been printed and back at the time, news knew barely nothing. Most of them focused on person of Thomas Reynolds and history of his life. Not discouraged by it, she continued to mark more interesting sections, learning more and more of Reynolds' history, his ups and downs. With obvious dominance of ups, that is, since you can either speak well of a deceased one or speak nothing. The interesting thing was that the papers didn't even mention the prison break of Donovan Jacobs, but again, it was totally expected; not even police had known of it until yesterday's evening. Done with those, Judy switched on a small TV her flat was equipped with, just in time for the discussion after the evening news. The presenter, a moose that she recognized from the evening news was hosting today a familiar elk in his fifties, maybe sixties. The guest had a warm, kind smile, but just by the eyes she could tell that he was a sharp and clever one and the interview would be an interesting one; it was that elk that stopped Judy from changing channel.

 _"_ _Tonight our guest is Mr. Fredrick Thunders, Chief Technology Officer of Reynolds Industries,"_ moose, Peter Moosebridge, if Judy remembered right, presented his guest. Judy remembered him now from that banquet she and Nick went to during the first blackout. Somehow, he looked quite differently on TV.

 _"_ _Good evening,"_ replied the elk bobbing his head politely.

 _"_ _Mr. Thunders, you have been a close associate and a friend of Thomas Reynolds for years. His death two days ago must have been shock to you,"_ wondered the moose and the wolf nodded agreeing.

 _"_ _Yes, it was a great shock to everyone,"_ he admitted carefully.

 _"_ _How did you learn of it? If I may ask, of course…"_

 _"_ _No, no, it's fine. Thomas didn't come to office at that morning. When he didn't work from mansion, he'd come to our building no later than at 6.30, a true early bird. I came to the office at 8 am and as usual, the first thing I did was going to Thomas's office. As workaholic as we both are, we like… liked to start a day slowly. Some tea, minor discussions, things like that,"_ explained Mr. Thunders.

 _"_ _But he wasn't to be found there,"_ guessed Moosebridge.

 _"_ _And security officer claimed he hadn't seen him earlier that day. That alarmed me, but I dismissed the thought, assumed that maybe he was just spending time with his children. In recent days Thomas started paying a lot more attention to Max and Anastasia, neglecting his work for them even. Still, the fact that he didn't call or didn't pick up when I tried to dial him alarmed me, so I decided to pay him a visit around 11 am,"_ Mr. Thunders was clearly stressed; all those events were still very fresh to him. Judy was actually surprised that he accepted an invitation to TV.

 _"_ _Did you suspect back then?"_ Wondered Moosebridge, watching his guest carefully.

 _"_ _I thought something bad might have happened, but was certain it would be about any of his children. Max, most likely. He's a ZPD officer and it's a dangerous job. But when I came to the residence and was stopped by police at the gate, I… I already knew it was about Thomas before they told me."_

 _"_ _They didn't let you in, did they?"_

 _"_ _No, they didn't. And from what I managed to learn, I guess it was better that way. It was probably not the picture I'd want to remember my friend by,"_ answered Mr. Thunders.

 _"_ _What did you do afterwards?"_

 _"_ _The first thought was to inform his family, but they already knew, so I only gave them my condolences. I returned then to Reynolds Industries, called board's meeting and delivered the news to them, so we could decide what next. It was a long, messy day,"_ the elk finished gloomily.

 _"_ _I can imagine. Mr. Thunders, could you tell me what kind of wolf Thomas Reynolds was? You knew him well, didn't you?"_

 _"_ _Knew him well? He was practically a younger brother to me!"_ Corrected him Thunders. _"Thomas was a wonderful mammal. Smart, firm, decisive. Born leader, like a Machiavellian prince; sly as a fox and brave as a lion,"_ enumerated the wolf. _"And he did a lot for this city. More than anyone that I could think of."_

 _"_ _You probably mean the recent donations to Zootopian charities?"_ Guessed the interviewer.

 _"_ _Nearly forty millions from his own wallet for various charities, yes, but it was just the pinnacle. He pumped millions in Hopkins Medical Institute which has reported numerous inventions, such as effective therapy to IFF. He funded modernization of Tundratown Climate Generators during the economic crisis decade ago. Thomas, just like his father, spent quite a chunk of his fortune on numerous investments for the sake of the city,"_ agreed Thunders.

 _"_ _Some claim those all were quite profitable businesses to him, such as unfinished Millennium Towers"_ noticed Moosebridge.

 _"_ _Because none of them bothered to read investment balances. Whenever Thomas helped investing in town, he was always in the red. All the wealth he had comes from Reynolds Industries, not his private investments,"_ assured Mr. Thunders firmly. Judy listened to it with curiosity. She was still kind of new to Zootopia and didn't know about the most of the things they were talking about in there, but she didn't expect to hear this side of Thomas Reynolds. She knew him rather for his arrogance and the way he treated Nick. And Max never spoke much of his father.

 _"_ _But there was this loud case of Happytown thirty years ago when Reynolds had an accident. A fox from Happytown died in and then, Reynolds backed out from investments he was doing there,"_ recalled the interviewer, catching Judy's attention yet again.

 _"_ _Now you dug deep,"_ noticed Mr. Thunders. _"You're telling it from Happytown's point of view that Thomas's rivals still love to bring out even if the whole thing started three decades ago."_

 _"_ _Does the time flow excuse it?"_

 _"_ _No, of course not. But let me tell you how it looked from friend of family's point of view. Thomas was eighteen or so at the time. I obviously wasn't in the car, but I know that the cause of accident was failure of brake system and factory defect of tires. I saw the proof with my own eyes, Mr. Moosebridge. Thomas ended up in hospital, injured and traumatized. The one that dealt with the case was his father, Mr. Gregory Reynolds. He protected his son from so called "social justice warriors" as much as he could and you must know that Mr. Gregory was very stubborn and radical in his decisions. Far more than Thomas,"_ explained Mr. Thunders emotionally.

 _"_ _So you say Mrs. Wilde, the widow after the fox killed, had no right to compensation for her loss?"_

 _"_ _Mrs. Wilde lost her husband and father to her son in a most unfortunate accident. She had right to compensation, but it was not Reynolds family's duty to pay it, but insurance company's. The later trial only confirmed it,"_ replied the elk. He seemed surprisingly calm hearing those subtle accusations, as if awareness that he needed to thread carefully put him back together.

 _"_ _From what I know, Wilde's insurance didn't cover that certain accident."_

 _"_ _Then problem lies with insurance system of Zootopia, not Mr. Reynolds. But do not get me wrong, Thomas did feel guilty for the accident nonetheless. He never really got over that. Moreover, the guilt grew over the years and left quite a mark on him. Thomas never drove a car again. He never visited Happytown for no matter what reason. He tried to do everything to stop his son Max from joining ZPD because he was scared about Wilde working in there. It was a heavy burden he was carrying there,"_ explained Mr. Thunders confidently and Judy found it hard to not believe him.

 _"_ _If I remember right, Mr. Gregory Reynolds, Thomas's father, backed out from massive investments planned for Happytown around that time. Several construction companies went bankrupt back there, including Young Builders or DomBud. Don't you think that was overreaction, Mr. Thunders?"_

 _"_ _Again, those who don't know the background claim it to be an overreaction when in reality, Mr. Gregory Reynolds would not be given a choice,"_ disagreed Fredrick Thunders. _"After the accident, he faced such an outrage among Happytown's mammals that it made any work there impossible. Those were Happytown's people that blocked the investments and forced him to back out. As much as I understand rage, even if wrongly placed, these people made their own beds."_

 _"_ _Do you know why I mentioned Young Builders, Mr. Thunders?"_ Asked the interviewer.

 _"_ _I think that because its owner, Zachary Young, committed suicide, but I believe it happened fifteen years later. He left a son, Spencer. The boy had to be sent to orphanage, since his mother was gone too. Yes, Thomas told me about it. He also told me how he looked after that boy and funded his education at Zootopia University in later years. Anonymously, through a charity, that is. Thomas wanted no plaudit for his actions. He was simply doing what he found right,"_ explained Mr. Thunders. _"Thomas was a model citizen of Zootopia. Although his life was filled with grief…"_

 _"_ _He lost his wife early,"_ recalled Moosebridge.

 _"_ _Yes, Ilya was a wonderful wolf and her loss was a great tragedy. But what I wanted to say, was that Thomas was a beacon of hope for this city despite everything. He was its paragon, one mammal in whose tracks I'd be proud to step. Despite all his falls and misery, he was actively changing the city. I can't imagine Zootopia as it is now without him or his…"_ continued Fredrick Thunders, but Judy didn't really pay attention to him anymore. She started wondering what Nick would say about Thunders's words. And, far more importantly, where her fox was right now. It was going to be his second night out there on his own, with not a place to go to. Judy looked out the window.

"Where are you, Nick?"

* * *

 _7.44 pm. Friday, August 23, 2020_

The best district to spend night in the air was either Savannah Central or Sahara Square, but Nick couldn't go there with ZPD expecting him. Tundratown with its freezing temperatures was not an option and thus, Wilde had to remain in north-western part of the town; Meadowlands, Canal and Rainforest Districts. Today he found a fine, undisturbed and relatively dry spot under old railway bridge in Canal district. He was sitting in the dark, eating one of sandwiches young Timothy bought him earlier that day and looking down at a small pub just by the canal below. They couldn't see him and Nick barely recognized silhouettes of mammals sitting by the outdoor tables, but something brought his attention. Among the laughter and discussions, there could be heard a radio.

"It's around eight pm. With no football today, maybe they'll be telling us some news about the case," Nick wondered, deciding to walk down to the pub and listen the news from safe distance. Maybe he'd learn something new? He had no idea about progress of investigation this far. ZPD was looking for him, certainly suspecting of murder, but Nick doubted if officers in charge made things more public than necessary.

"They probably proclaimed me missing," guessed Nick. "Told the public that I'm connected to Reynolds' death; they can't hide that with my car in front of his house. There will be speculations that I might have done it, but until ZPD gets me and the confession out of me, they will deny everything. That's what I'd do at their place," Nick said to himself confidently. ZPD was usually careful when assigning guilt, especially in loud cases like this. ZPD as whole suffered quite a backlash during several investigations like Mauler case or Nighthowlers case when they jumped to conclusions a bit too fast. The mayor, a friend to Thomas Reynolds, could be pressing to find murderer quickly, but they knew better, didn't they?

Nick made it to the pub and stopped a dozen feet from it in the dark where he could listen to the news without bringing anyone's attention. He made it just in time for the news, it seemed.

 _"…_ _a retired officer of ZPD. Officer Horner, you know Detective Sullivan who's in charge of Reynolds' investigation. What can you tell us about him?"_ Asked a male voice, most likely from a studio.

 _"_ _He's probably the best cop I've ever worked with. Extremely clever and has amazing intuition. Nothing goes by him,"_ assured an elderly hoarse voice firmly.

 _"_ _Right horse at the right place?"_ Guessed the interviewer.

 _"_ _I wouldn't have put it better."_

 _"_ _So when can we expect the case to be closed?"_

 _"_ _Formalities always take long, but I think arresting the murderer is matter of days. Sullivan has already identified him and as of the morning, the arrest warrant has been officially approved,"_ explained Horner and suddenly, Nick felt creeps across his body. They wouldn't…

 _"_ _You mean Detective Wilde?"_ The interviewer asked with concern bordering with sympathy.

 _"_ _Yeah, the fox. I know from my sources that his guilt's obvious; hence the warrant coming up so fast. They're going to find him, arrest him and get him to confess in a week, maybe two,"_ the retired policeman stated without a hint of doubt. Nick listened to his words completely dumbfounded. They actually called him a murderer. They announced it to whole Zootopia; that he, Nick Wilde, killed Thomas Reynolds. He wasn't even angry. He was just… deeply disappointed.

 _"_ _There have been suggestions that warrant serves only to bait Wilde out. That Sullivan gives him a chance to turn himself in and prove his innocence. He did claim so in his statement,"_ noticed the interviewer carefully.

 _"_ _Sullivan is open-minded and allows such turn of events, but I don't think he believes it and I certainly don't either. At an interview back when that fox joined ZPD I told you that there would be some huge troubles with that fox and here we are. It was obvious since the very start. Even recent research by Zootopia University proves that foxes are genetically…"_ Nick didn't need to hear a word more of it; he could bet that from now on, the conversation would turn into a river of slurs against him and pseudo-scientific data proving foxes' natural tendency toward crime.

Nick walked back his dark path to the railway bridge where he left his things. He was returning to his hideout with his disappointment slowly reforging into fury, as he thought more and more of that interview. But it was not that retired officer's words that enraged him. He could deal with insults and biases. What enraged him were the actions that stood behind Horner's words. The arrest warrant.

Since going to Academy, Nick dealt with a fair share of mistrust. He was generally mocked or ignored in the Academy. For the first few months in service, there were some that kept watching every single action of his. When Nick and Judy were given a case of breaking in to the National Bank and theft of painting "Number 3", he heard a couple officers from his own Precinct expressing an opinion that a fox shouldn't be trusted with something this big. One time, being off-duty, he helped a neighbor, a red fox that was accused of theft, to clear his name. Even though he never used any police privileges when clearing his name, he was later accused by officers in charge of encroachment and had to explain himself to disciplinary committee. Some tabloid wrote even article on how "Foxes stick together". These all were petty, ridiculous events he not always even shared with Judy, as unworthy mentioning. There was not much to talk about, just a bunch of jerks or revelation-seeking vultures. But the warrant… warrant was official. It was the official statement of ZPD that they considered him a murderer of Thomas Reynolds even though the investigation had barely started. It was something that he'd never see coming so fast. And that was what hurt him to the point where Nick asked himself a question he thought he never would have.

"Why am I even doing this?" He asked, sitting under the bridge and shivering. The night was going to be cold.


	9. Reunion

_8.39 am. Saturday, August 24, 2020_

Donovan Jacobs was sitting by his computer when he heard knocking to the door. He called his guest to enter and saw Joshua Morrows stepping in. The pig sat on the chair in front of him and watched his boss writing slowly.

"How is it going, sir?" He asked curiously.

"I think I already have the client. We just need to agree on a proper price and I'll be able to arrange trade at the end of the month," assured Donovan.

"How much do they offer?" Joshua wondered.

"Destruction of Haddock's collection spiked Moonlight's price. I'll be expecting no less than one hundred, maybe get to bargain a bit more," explained the raccoon.

"That leaves twelve and half for each of us," counted quickly Morrows. "That's some considerate fortune."

"It'll cover part of assets that ZPD took over after arresting," agreed Donovan.

"And after we sell it, that fox will be sleeping on money, huh?" noticed Joshua with a smirk "You have to give it to him, his plan was way better than ours. ZPD morons don't even know we stole a painting this time."

"Mhm," Donovan agreed a bit absent-mindedly.

"Something troubles you, sir?"

"Confuses, I would say. What do you think of Spencer's group, Joshua?" Wondered Donovan. The pig shrugged uncertainly.

"Gerard Greymane brings out old good Ollie. Polar opposites in motivations, just as psychopathic in their actions," stated Morrows with a shiver. He was still picturing Greymane's teeth locking on his throat, not that poor sheep's. "Scarlet reminds me of some noir movie _femme fatale_ , if you know what I mean, sir. Clever, sexy, cold-hearted, drives fast and kicks asses," he explained and Donovan nodded. He had quite a similar feeling about her.

"And Spencer?" The raccoon wondered.

"Trustworthy? It's silly, I know. The guy killed his teammate without even blinking just to show us he's not screwing around. Still, the fox has something in him… something that makes you trust him nonetheless. It's kinda terrifying."

"Yes, it is. Do you think he's an idealist?"

"There are no idealists in this work, sir. We're here for money, not ideas," disagreed Joshua without a moment of doubt.

"He's new to these things, Joshua. And I don't think he'll be staying here for long," pointed out Donovan. He reached for his tea and drank it slowly, as the pig considered his words.

"I still don't know what you're getting at, sir," he shrugged helplessly.

"I've been looking at Spencer's past in the time we have and found some peculiar ties with Thomas Reynolds. Young could for example blame him partially for his father's suicide," explained Donovan. "It could have been simply opportunistic approach, as killing Reynolds fitted perfectly into Spencer's plan, but he could have a personal motive behind it."

"Maybe he envies Wilde? Or they had a clash in the past? They're both foxes, they probably know each other," noticed Joshua. "But as long as we get the money, why is that even a problem?"

"Because as long as it's money that Spencer cares about, he won't throw it. But if it's a personal motive, he might waste an opportunity to get away in order to conduct his own business, risking all our efforts…" At that moment, they heard knocking on the door. The two of them froze immediately.

"Please, come in," said Donovan loudly. The door opened slowly presenting to them Scarlet Calveit dressed in jeans, tight, red T-shirt perfectly exposing all the appealing curvatures of young pronghorn and a leather jacket flipped over her shoulder. If Joshua were fifteen years younger, he would fall bewitched with her in that very moment and even now, he was charmed.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" She wondered leaning against the doorframe.

"No, quite oppositely, Miss Scarlet. Could you tell us a bit about your boyfriend?" Donovan Jacobs asked politely and she watched him curiously.

"That depends what you want to know," replied Scarlet bouncing off the wall and walking toward them gracefully. Joshua stood up from his chair awkwardly and offered it to her. The pronghorn accepted it with endearing smile, hanging her jacket on its back beforehand.

"Would you make us some tea?" She pleased the pig.

"Um.. Yes, yes of course," he complied, suddenly feeling completely out of place and rushed to the kitchen. Scarlet giggled as the door closed behind him.

"Your partner's amusing. I like him," she said.

"He's reliable," admitted Donovan. "Now, if you'd be so kind to answer couple of my questions, Miss Scarlet? In return, I'll answer any of yours."

"Like I said, it depends. What do you want to know?"

"How long do you know Spencer?" Donovan asked.

"Since we were six. But we actually started hanging around when we were fifteen or so,"

"Why such a gap?" The raccoon watched her curiously.

"I'm hard to impress, Mr. Jacobs. But once Spencey proved his worth, I was all for him," she replied, toying with her keys. "But you're not going to ask about our childhood or romance, are you? You want to know about Mr. Reynolds and why exactly Spencey killed him," she guessed and smiled mysteriously, watching his confused face.

"Were you eavesdropping us?" He wondered, but she laughed at his accusation.

"Maybe. Or maybe I simply can add two and two? You asked about Spencer's past, meaning you search for connection with the present. The only two you'd care about now would be Wilde and Reynolds. Excluding the former whom Spencey doesn't know leaves us with the latter. You seem to be underestimating me, Mr. Jacobs. Is it because I'm a girl or a kid? Or maybe a bit of both?" She leaned over toward him, smiling mysteriously.

"Perhaps a bit of both, for which I apologize. I can't stop thinking of you as newbies…" apologized Donovan, shrugging with surrender. He wasn't a liar.

"…who we in fact are, but we're the smart ones, Mr. Jacobs. Now, you wanted to know why Spencer would kill Reynolds. You probably found out about that case revolving his father."

"They say he hanged himself dozen years after Reynolds ruined his company," recalled Donovan and pronghorn nodded.

"He did. But what you won't find on Zoogle, is that old Zachary Young was an abusive drunkard and his death was a blessing to Spencer, rather than curse. He should be actually thankful to Reynolds in a way," told him Scarlet. Now, that was something that he didn't know.

"Then why did Spencer kill Reynolds?"

"For money, Mr. Jacobs. That's all there is in here to me and so, it is all that there is to Spencer."

"The whole idea came from Spencer, didn't it? When?"

"He had the plan prepared right after he defended his thesis one and half year ago. He gathered his savings then, took a loan for house's renovation and invested most of it into the whole thing instead," explained Scarlet.

"I see," Donovan considered her answer in silence for a moment. "And how did he gather the four of you? I mean, you obviously were his girlfriend, but…"

"Spencer recruited Lucas and Gerard right after I agreed to take part in his plan."

"And how did Spencer find these two?" Donovan asked, but the pronghorn just smiled and shrugged.

"Can't tell."

"You don't know or you won't tell me?" Wondered Jacobs and she giggled.

"In the end, is there a difference?" She asked, leaning back against her seat and rocking on it gently. "You don't get to know anyway."

"But knowing that someone else does and that she trusts Greymane enough would be relieving to me. He seems like an angry hound on Spencer's leash and him breaking it now is the biggest of my concerns," explained Donovan, lying a bit. As much as he was concerned about the wolf, he wasn't the greatest of his worries now. Spencer Young was. As young as he was, he remained an enigma to the old raccoon.

"Grey has his own reason. He enjoys killing, but knows when to stop and not get caught. Otherwise, you'd be hearing from the Mauler once in a while," Scarlet avoided the answer.

"So he is the Mauler," he noticed. That part he believed for sure. "And who was that Lucas? I found only scraps on the Internet…"

"In fact, no one. And the moment he died he lost his chance to change that," replied Scarlet, but her cold eyes proved that to say she disliked Lucas would be saying nothing.

"It's funny. I considered him your friend initially," noticed Donovan without a hint of amusement.

"His death must have changed your point of view, then," stated Scarlet coldly. Jacobs realized that as they started speaking of Lucas Wool, her attitude completely changed. From charming and intriguing she almost immediately switched to fierce and hateful, as if just the idea that Wool was even anyhow significant was infuriating her. She clearly had some insecurity issues under that attitude of hers.

"Yes, it certainly did," Donovan agreed with her a bit hesitantly. "I guess that would be all the questions I have now. If you want to ask me anything in return, feel free to do so," the raccoon offered.

"Yes, I could ask you a lot of things. What's your real name, where do you come from, how did you find your way to Zootopia and started stealing pictures… But honestly?" Scarlet leaned toward him with an enigmatic smile. "I don't give a damn. I'm here just for money, not fairy tales and old man's stories. It's been pleasure to talk though, Mr. Jacobs. Good bye." She stood from her chair gracefully, flipped her leather jacket over her shoulder and walked toward the door. Donovan watched her carefully when a thought came to his mind.

"I assumed you're here for Spencer, not the money," he said the moment she grabbed the doorknob. The pronghorn watched him with corner of her eye and smirked archly.

"In the end, is there any difference?" And before he replied, she pressed it and left the raccoon in his office alone with the question and an idea sparkling in his mind.

* * *

 _3.32 pm. Saturday, August 24, 2020_

"…And that's about everything I've found this far," finished Detective Wheeler, walking carefully around his taped floor and explaining the revelations he had found to his guest, who was sitting on the desk from lack of space on floor. From there, Spencer Young could see everything.

"It is quite a lot," the fox admitted.

"But not sufficiently. There are so many more secrets in the files you gave me, Mr. Young…"

"No, it's enough. Whole this research lost its point anyway," disagreed Spencer firmly.

"You mean, since Mr. Reynolds is dead?" Guessed the detective and Spencer nodded.

"Exactly. What's the point of revealing man's secrets, if he's already gone?" Asked the fox and both of them dwelled on it for a while.

"Justice?" Suggested Wheeler.

"There is no justice in this city, Detective. And certainly no other justice than Reynolds was served earlier this week," Spencer muttered bitterly.

"You don't believe in Wilde's fault, do you?" Wondered the detective and Spencer barely contained the laugh, as he shook his head.

"He wouldn't give a bad name to foxes like this. I can't believe it," Young explained and sighed deeply. "Reynolds' death… What a disaster, isn't it? Not only everything you've found was wasted, but city blamed the one fox that they used to respect. And no one's even bothering to defend him."

"Actually… there's someone," Wheeler smiled.

"Who?"

"Judy Hopps. She was here just yesterday," he announced and, seeing that he had fox's attention fully, continued. "She came under a fake name and asked out about Reynolds a bit. It turns out someone used my name to lure Wilde into Reynolds' mansion on that fatal night."

"So you're saying Wilde didn't do it?" Spencer asked hopefully and Wheeler nodded.

"I believe so. It's certainly not a sufficient proof, but if she gathers enough…"

"That's wonderful!" Spencer jumped off the table, almost shredding one of photos on the floor. "If we could find more proof… maybe something in these findings of yours… We could clear Wilde's name!"

"There's not much more here, I am afraid," Wheeler brought him back to the earth. "We're digging in some distant past here and this is a very recent case. There are a lot of mammals with enough motive to kill Reynolds. You somehow included, with all due respect," the detective pointed out and Spencer sighed with frustration, leaning against the desk again.

"If only Reynolds was alive. If only he was alive, everything would have been…" The fox paused, struggling with his thoughts. "I guess it doesn't matter, though. We can't bring him back, so we need to adapt."

"What do you plan now?" Wheeler asked curiously.

"I'll pay you for the work done here like we established when you started. I guess I'll take the results, search for anything that could help Wilde. Otherwise, I won't have much use of it," Spencer explained.

"Why not to… publish it?"

"It's not enough for a breaking-through revelation. Besides, Reynolds is dead and one should not speak badly of deceased," argued Spencer. "I will need to find Detective Hopps, too," he added after a moment, returning with his thoughts to the plan.

"I might have an idea," Wheeler volunteered. "Reynolds' funeral is on Monday. She won't be in the crowd, but you could try to find her there."

"A good idea, thank you. I was going there anyway," Spencer admitted. Detective Wheeler found the documents he had prepared for the fox and handed them to him. The fox leafed through them and paid the money they had agreed upon before. With Wheeler's wishes of best luck, Spencer Young left the detective agency and got back to his car. As he drove away, he could barely contain the laugh. Everything was going perfectly. Wheeler bought his lies completely and without a question. One mammal that could give him away was never going to even consider the idea of Spencer being involved. But to be fair, Young planned this step carefully, even if in secret from everyone. The documents he had given Wheeler seven months earlier had nothing to do with the ones he took from Reynolds' mansion. They came from his private stash and were the ones Spencer hoped to contain any secrets, but couldn't find them themselves. In the end, he was no detective or investigator, just an electronics student with love for criminal novels. He needed Wheeler to fill the few gaps the fox had not enough experience to handle. And the detective did his part excellently.

Spencer Young came back to his house. He checked the time; still couple hours before meeting with Scarlet. The fox came to the living room and moved the couch to uncover a secret stash. He wondered if Barnes and Fangmeyer had noticed the scratches at the floor when they were visiting. They probably did, but blamed it on house's recent renovation. Even Scarlet didn't know what left really them, after all.

From the stash, Spencer brought out a small, black briefcase with golden, engraved initials: T.E.R. He sat with it by the desk in his bedroom, opened it and took out an almost twenty-year old document lying on the top of briefcase's original content and not only. He had to write a page or two more, label and sort everything that Wheeler gave him and then, it'd be done. His _opus magnum._

* * *

 _9.27 pm. Saturday, August 24, 2020_

Judy spent whole Saturday on pins and needles, counting down the minutes till the fateful hour of 9.30 pm when she was supposed to talk with Nick. Hopps was at the Internet café before 8 pm and started browsing Web. At first, she tried to search for articles about Nick and see what they said, but she gave up on the idea quickly. With Sullivan's yesterday's announcement, most of them considered him guilty as charged. Judy worried if Nick even knew about it. He certainly was avoiding urban regions, probably sticking to parks and greenery of Meadowlands or Canal District.

Frustrated with the news revolving around Nick, Judy checked news on the investigation itself, browsed some discussions in comments seeing if anyone noticed someone that had gone over Judy's head before. It was generally loss of time, but she didn't need much more. At 9.25, she found Azure Cove; the front page presented a quiet, hidden beach with silhouettes of two mammals of clearly different species holding each other's paw. Judy logged in with name and password from Nick and was taken to her profile which Nick mercifully left empty except for dating preferences. Among all the species, he marked only "Fox" and "Other", writing there "Carrots". Judy couldn't help but to smirk.

"It certainly is your job there," she muttered to herself with amusement. And then, a message popped up on her screen.

 _**Blues99** wants to chat with you. Do you accept? Y / N_

Judy trembled in excitement and felt blood rushing to her head as her ears perked up in excitement. So that was it, she was finally going to talk with him. Judy pressed Y and was taken to a chat site. Nick probably had so much to tell her; about the Reynolds, the murder, how he was doing… So many things that she'd have not an idea what he'd start with. And then, she saw Nick's message.

 _**Blues99:**_ _Hey, my friend told me once that rabbits are good at… multiplying. wink!_

Judy stared at it in confusion, blushed from cheeks to ears and barely contained a burst of laughter. She certainly did not see that one coming. With shaking paws and still giggling, she wrote a quick reply.

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Sweet cheese and crackers, you did not just write that!_

 ** _Blues99:_** _Sorry, I've been sitting at this site for over two hours now, it got to me. :D_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Well, you chose quite a kinky place indeed._

 ** _Blues99:_** _I prefer discreet, but whatever suits you. wink!_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Mhm… Says the fox that has been flirting on a kinky dating site for whole evening. I did not know this side of you, Detective Wilde. O.o I am massively disappointed._

 ** _Blues99:_** _Mark my words, Carrots; the day I skip a chance to chat with a random **hot16vixen** is a day I give up on remains of my masculinity!_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Or your wedding day?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _Is that a proposition? :D_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Do you reply to every question with a question?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _Are you avoiding an answer?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _So what if I am? ^^;_

 ** _Blues99:_** _Don't you think your fox would want to know? -.-_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _My fox? Would my fox dare to flirt with some random ladies on Internet?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _Aren't we all just imperfect creations granted with the gift of forgiveness? :(_

Judy could clearly see Nick saying that last line with the most heart-broken voice of his, staring deeply into her irises with those adorable puppy eyes he gave her always when he wanted something… and also when he thought she wasn't watching. And in real life, Judy would have to admit her defeat to the adorableness of that fox. But on Internet, all he had was a sad face emoticon and it gave her all the means to put him down to earth.

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Are you always this sappy?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _Couldn't you rather label it under "romantic"?_

For quite a moment, Judy was out of questions to reply to that. She lost and Judy Hopps knew when to admit it.

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _You got me._

 ** _Blues99:_** _Ha! :D_

 _So… do I get to hear the answer?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Nick, my dad would kill me if I married a wanted fox._

 ** _Blues99:_** _And if we scratch "wanted"?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _And add Nick Wilde to it? Dad would be begging on his knees for you to marry me. He thinks you're my only matrimonial hope, you know._

 ** _Blues99:_** _Is that speaking highly of me or lowly of you?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Both, I guess?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _Ha! So, how about we proceed to scratching that "wanted" from my name? We have a lot of work in that department._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Yeah. Oh, Nick?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _Yes?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _I'm so happy that you're alive and I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you earlier. I should have gone with you to Reynolds. Or at least have picked up when you called me. I'm sorry._

 ** _Blues99:_** _You wouldn't have helped me much anyway, only would have worried more. And about Reynolds, it's better that it turned out this way._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Why?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _Because they only needed me alive, Carrots. And the wolf that attacked me was very specific on how he wished he could "taste a rabbit"._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Wow. That's… messed up._

 ** _Blues99:_** _Tell me about it._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _What happened there? Finnick didn't tell me much, only how he found you and patched you up._

 ** _Blues99:_** _Because I didn't tell him much either. The less he knew the better for him. Do you want the short version or the gory details?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Gory details? As much as text and time allows, I guess._

 ** _Blues99:_** _When I came to the mansion the gate had been left open. I parked in front of the mansion, knocked on the door. No one opened, so I pushed the door. It was completely dark inside._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Blackout?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _I bet. I called Reynolds out, but heard no reply. Instead, I smelled blood and smoke. Lots of blood and smoke. I followed their trail to Haddock's gallery. Through the cracked door I noticed firelight. I reached for the tranquilizer and stormed inside. In the middle of the room, there was quite a pile of paintings burning. In front of it lied a body and next to it, a silhouette. He was about my size, but I didn't get a good look at him._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Why?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _It was dark and I barely had time. I called him to freeze and aimed gun at him, but at that moment, a wolf appeared from nowhere and bit deep into my left paw. He then threw me against the wall, dislocated my arm, made me drop the gun._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Ouch._

 ** _Blues99:_** _Agreed, but I was a bit more expressive about it._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _I imagine. So you fought the wolf. How did it go?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _One-sidedly. He wasn't trying to kill me, though. Slashed me up, grabbed by throat and squeezed till I passed out. Before I did, though, I heard the other one, his boss, instructing him. Something about their friend in ZPD taking care of me from now on._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _I even have an idea who, but go on. When did you wake up?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _Do you? Around 1 am. I woke up, walked toward the body, stepped into blood accidentally. I recognized Reynolds and saw that he was long dead. I didn't really look at the paintings, they all seemed scorched anyway. Aware that these two were trying to frame me, I knew I had to disappear, but when I got back to the car, I couldn't find my keys anywhere. That was when I called you._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Sorry._

 ** _Blues99:_** _It was a stupid idea anyway. You have no car and you couldn't call a taxi for me. I called Finnick. Took me a while, he was sleeping too. I explained the situation briefly and he picked me up. He took me in, set my shoulder, bandaged my wounds and bought me new clothes. He offered to hide me, but I asked him to drop me off in Meadowlands at the morning. I didn't want to put him at risk. You know the rest of story, I guess. And how were you doing?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Less dramatic, I think. I saw your phone calls, got late to ZPD because you didn't come either. At the place, Wolford was missing and Chief sent me and Fangmeyer to Reynolds' residence; turns out he and Spice found the body. We arrived at the spot and saw the scene. They left lots of clues toward you, Nick._

 ** _Blues99:_** _Such as?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Your name tag in Reynolds' paw, your gun, car keys in the pile of paintings and on one of paintings, someone wrote "MURDERER!"_ _with Reynolds' blood. Number 3, to spice things up._

 ** _Blues99:_** _Wow._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Yeah. We also learnt that there were no camera recordings due to blackout and someone had called off service for the next day. Reynolds probably, but I couldn't confirm it before Sullivan appeared._

 ** _Blues99:_** _Who?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _James Sullivan and his partner, Victoria Hamilton. Cops from Tundratown that took the case over immediately since all Precinct 1's cops on spot had a conflict of interests here. He tried to sugar-coat it to me as he asked out about you, but I think he already considered you guilty back then. And after that warrant, I'm sure he's the guy they bought to frame you. Wait, do you know about warrant?_

 _Hello?_

 _Nick?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _I do._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _I'm sorry. I never thought they'd do it._

 ** _Blues99:_** _It's fine._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Are you sure, Nick? You know you can tell me._

 ** _Blues99:_** _It's fine. Really._

 _What about Sullivan?_

 _Carrots?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Nick?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _Huh?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Tell me where you are._

 ** _Blues99:_** _What for?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _I'm coming right there and I'm going to give you the huggiest of all hugs, foxy. It's the one thing you deserve right now._

 ** _Blues99:_** _As tempting as it is, the later we see the better for you._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _I don't care._

 ** _Blues99:_** _I know you don't and that's why I have to. If things go wrong and I go down, I am not dragging you down with me._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Where you go, so do I, Nick._

 ** _Blues99:_** _You'd do it, wouldn't you? You'd come here if I gave you an address._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Without a second thought. Are you doubting?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _No, I'm just trying to comprehend your recklessness, Carrots. You're supposed to be a police officer, not a desperate bunny you are :)_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _I just can't get over the thought that you're somewhere out there troubled and I can't be there for you. :(_

 ** _Blues99:_** _You can clear my name and then, you can hug me all you want. So how about we get to the job? :D_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Sure thing!_

 ** _Blues99:_** _OK, so what about that Sullivan? Did you learn anything peculiar about him?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Kaylee's still digging._

 ** _Blues99:_** _Wait, Kaylee? You dragged her into this?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _She dragged herself in. Before I lost police, I visited Max and Kaylee to give them condolences. When she walked me to the bus stop, she insisted that she was going to help us._

 ** _Blues99:_** _Carrots…_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _I don't like risking her either, but we do need her if we hope to find out anything about Sullivan. And she really is determined to help us out._

 ** _Blues99:_** _Just keep her safe._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _I will, I promise. She hasn't done anything illegal for me._

 ** _Blues99:_** _Yet. The last time she had no problem digging in files she had no legal access to. But I can trust you'll keep her out of troubles. As I understand, no news about Sullivan yet?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _None. And I've been to Wheeler, that detective that supposedly invited you to Reynolds. It looks like someone hacked their website that day to make sure you'd fall for the invitation._

 ** _Blues99:_** _So a dead end?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _It seems so. And how about you? The wolf and the other guy, you said you had time to watch them._

 ** _Blues99:_** _Yes and I have couple ideas about the wolf. If I'm lucky, I might find where he lives, search his place, learn who his boss is. And how he's connected to Donovan._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Right, I completely forgot about that. It's connected, isn't it?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _Someone used the same blackout to do these two things at once._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _But ZPD are missing it since they assume you killed him in heat of passion. Now, why would someone need to kill Reynolds and release Donovan? Revenge?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _If they released Donovan, they probably know he has no money left. It's not that hard to discover if you read between lines. Which means they need him to sell something._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _From Reynolds' mansion, most likely. And killing the owner and framing you so nobody notices. A painting, maybe?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _It would be hard to miss. Unless…_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Unless it was one of Haddock's. Then, burning the others and dropping a fake frame for the one missing would be a perfect cover. ZPD won't notice it if they just count them. And even if they run analyses, it might be missed._

 ** _Blues99:_** _And if Sullivan wants me blamed, he won't even bother with those. Now, that's something._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _So what's our plan?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _I'll go and ask about the wolf. I think there is a certain crime boss that could help me._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _You don't mean Mr. Big, do you?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _Nah, I have no tuxedo with me. I'll go consult the Duchess, hope you remember her. She used to be investing in street boxing and the guy that beat me up back there clearly had boxer moves. Except for biting, that is._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Ouch :( And if she helps you, what then?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _If I get this far, I'll find guy's house, search it, follow him to Donovan's hideout, if possible._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Be careful._

 ** _Blues99:_** _Hey, you know me. I'm always careful. :D_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Mhm._

 ** _Blues99:_** _I'll pretend you agreed with me there. Alright, so what about you?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _I'll call Kaylee, see if she finds anything on Sullivan. And I'll ask her to have Max look at these frames. One of them could be a fake and he might have a chance to recognize it._

 ** _Blues99:_** _Does Max know about her help?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Not sure. Kaylee said she didn't want to involve him._

 ** _Blues99:_** _Well, no one likes to involve no one and in this pace, we could be starting rogue detective agency…_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Point taken. Where do we meet?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _Here on Tuesday, this same time. Can you make it?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _No trouble. But I'll be worrying sick about you :)_

 ** _Blues99:_** _Be strong Carrots :) Oh, and one more thing. Give me your current address and phone number, just in case._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Cider Street 67/22 and 604 538 660_

 ** _Blues99:_** _Thanks. Hopefully I won't have to use them, but otherwise, you'll have a surprise waiting for you :D. You're not locking your flat when you go out, are you?_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Of course I am!_

 ** _Blues99:_** _I should have a lockpick with me, then._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Sly fox :) So… see you on Tuesday?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _I guess. Be careful, Carrots._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _It's you that needs to be. Try to not have that wolf kill you. They won't need you alive now that everyone thinks you did it._

 ** _Blues99:_** _I will, I will. Carrots? One thing more._

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Yes?_

 ** _Blues99:_** _I won but you didn't answer the wedding question. So, was that a proposition? :D_

 ** _DetCarrot:_** _Well, Slick, if you insist… I will tell you, but only when you ask a proper question. wink! Take care, Nick._

 ** _Blues99:_** _Take care, Judy._

If anyone were now to come over to a small, forgotten Internet café located at the brink of Meadowlands, they'd see a fox with his left arm bandaged, giggling as he was losing a battle to not burst out with laughter. He logged out from Azure Cove, left the building and walked down the street still snickering quietly. The fox made then a turn into a city park, crossed it and found the bridge he was spending this night under, with two shopping bags of his food and supplies there. Nick laid down on an old mattress he had found there. It stank, but it was much warmer than sleeping on ground and he could always wash in the river nearby just like he had done in the morning. As drifting away into the land of dreams, those last few words from Judy were echoing in back of his mind, causing a warm, fuzzy feeling in his stomach and blood rushing in his head. That night, the fox slept like never.

* * *

 _10.30 pm._ _Saturday, August 24, 2020_

Judy returned to her flat hopping and singing under her nose, as she couldn't contain her happiness; Nick was alright, they more or less knew what was going on and had a chance to prove his innocence. It was the most uplifting news since that fateful night of Nick's disappearance. As Judy returned to her flat, she already knew that she wouldn't get to sleep tonight. Instead, she called Kaylee.

"Hey, you're not sleeping, are you?" Judy asked, as the brown bunny picked up her phone.

 _"No, no, I am not. What's going on?"_ Kaylee asked. She sounded very tired.

"I spoke with Nick," Judy confessed.

 _"On the Azure Cove?! Or in real?!"_ Crane woke up immediately.

"On Azure Cove. He wants me as far from him as possible. He's fine and on the lead. In the meanwhile, I promised I'd investigate that Sullivan more and wanted to ask you if you found anything," Judy hoped.

 _"Oh, about that…"_ Kaylee made an awkward pause. _"I dug a lot. I think I found traces of something, but it was… wiped out,"_ she explained.

"What do you mean?" Asked Judy with worries.

 _"There's this old case where he arrested his own cousin for series of B &Es. RTV shops mostly. Anyway, the case files are incomplete, as if someone had destroyed some of them. There are no recordings of questionings and transcripts are incomplete. I think he was covering someone or something back there, but it's a dead lead and I don't think I have anything else on him. I dug everything, sort of broke law to get there and still, nothing. Sorry about that," _Kaylee apologized.

"It's fine. You helped a lot and I can't have you doing everything for me," Judy assured, even if it meant she was losing her only lead. "I'll just have to find something else to stick to and…"

 _"Actually… I think I have an idea,"_ said Kaylee shyly.

"I'm all ears," Judy said, intrigued.

 _"Remember how I said Barnes and Fangmeyer are in charge of Donovan break-out and blackout investigation? First off, they found a guy that designed those devices that caused blackout in the first place. Turns out he was some student and it was his bachelor thesis. Before you ask, the thing was publicly available, although you needed to know where to look for it in order to find."_

"Who's the guy?" Hopps asked. Now, that sounded rather interesting.

 _"Spencer Young, a fox from Happytown. Barnes doesn't think he could have done it, though. He has no nerves for actual crimes. And I know him a bit too, he used to be my classmate in high school. I agree with Barnes. He was too good for such atrocities,"_ Kaylee explained.

"How do you know this all?" Judy wondered.

 _"You know me, I stick my head in everyone's business. Anyway, that wasn't what I was going to speak about. In the tunnel Donovan used to escape, they found sheep wool. And no, it wasn't Barnes',"_ Kaylee avoided answer and quickly proceeded to the other news.

"There's like a hundred thousand sheep in Zootopia," noticed Judy skeptically, although it was quite a lead. If you knew what to do with it, that is, and from her tone Judy knew that Kaylee already did.

 _"Yeah, that's what I thought too. And then, I checked recent missing reports and guess what I found."_

"A sheep?"

 _"A sheep architecture engineer with financial problems last seen on the Tuesday afternoon just a couple hours before the midnight. I Family has not a clue what could have happened. He didn't leave a message, had no friends outside of town, claimed that he was going to a party that evening to which it seems he never showed up. You want to check it out?"_ Wondered Kaylee. Like she needed to ask.

"Of course, I do," Judy agreed and started looking for her notebook hurriedly. "Who is he exactly?"

 _"The name's Lucas Wool, aged twenty-three, lives in Meadowlands. He finished Zootopia University recently along with Young. I'd give you address, but I guess you won't want to visit his family since ZPD can be there any moment now, so you could check out some of his friends,"_ Kaylee suggested.

"And you already know whom," guessed Judy with a smile. Gosh, she was so prepared for that conversation.

 _"He has a best friend from studies time, a deer named Barry Dickens. They were classmates back then and according to social media, used to hang out a lot together until recently. He lives at Grass Street 54 in Savannah Central, but if you want to catch him alone, he usually comes to Ungu-latte's Café at the same street every Sunday morning, usually alone. Around nine a.m. to be precise. Excluding Wool's family, he might be our best shot. I mean, if he's even connected with the case, I don't want you chasing ghosts, Judy…"_

"Thank you, Kaylee," Judy interrupted her. "How do you even find this all?"

 _"Magic of Internet, Judy. It has all the answers. You just need to know the right questions."_

"Between Max, ZPD and asking the right questions, where do you even find time to sleep?" Wondered Hopps half-jokingly.

 _"Haven't you heard? It's a common knowledge that Crane family are in fact vampires. We do not need to sleep, but find ourselves hosts on whose blood we feed and thus, find strength to be active twenty-four per seven,"_ Kaylee sounded so deadly serious, Hopps would be willing to consider it truth, weren't it to sound so absurd.

"Now, that probably explains the choice of fiancé," Judy noticed half-jokingly.

" _I do need lots of blood. And speaking of Max, there's… there's one thing more,"_ Kaylee took a deep breath. _"Between the ZPD and helping you, I found myself neglecting Max and that's something I… I should have never done. He needs me now more than ever, so I took next two weeks off and want to sacrifice this time for him fully. This means I probably won't be able to help you with any intel anymore. You can always call me and I'll give best, but I…"_ Her voice trembled a bit. _"Sorry, after all these declarations I gave, I couldn't even live up to them…"_

"Kaylee, you've been of great help, really," assured Judy. "You investigated Sullivan and gave me a decent lead of probable member of the criminal group behind it. You helped more than I'd ever expect. Now, you go save your relationship while I go save my fox, will you?" The bunny suggested and Kaylee giggled.

 _"So he is your fox."_

"Of course he is my fox, who's going to save him if not me?"

 _"No one, I guess. Be careful, Judy."_

"So should be you, Kaylee. Could you just do one last thing for me?"

 _"Sure, what is it?"_

"Ask Max to see if some of the burnt frames aren't fakes. We suspect the murder could be about picture theft," Judy explained.

 _"Wow… OK, I will. But I guess you'd have to ask ZPD about it."_

"It won't be easy with Sullivan," reminded her Judy.

 _"True. I'll call Sullivan tomorrow, suggest it to him and see what he does."_

"Good thinking."

 _"Oh, before I go, one thing more. Max's dad's funeral will take place on Monday at noon at Meadowlands Cemetery. Telling you just in case you wanted to come and found time to…"_ suggested Kaylee.

"I'll be there if possible. Not in the crowd, obviously, but I'll try to be there," Judy promised.

 _"Thanks. It'll mean a lot to Max. I have to go. Bye, Judy."_

"Bye, Kaylee. Thank you once again," Hopps said and hung up. She laid on her bed and watched the ceiling. So many news at once; Nick was fine and trying to chase down the ones that killed Reynolds. They more or less knew what had happened and had an idea how Donovan was fitting into this all. Sullivan lead was dead, but Judy was given another one. Kaylee had to stop helping them and that was actually relief to Judy; she'd never forgive herself if anything happened to Crane because of them. In the end, they made a step forward. Whatever the "forward" meant.

* * *

 _10.37 pm._ _Saturday, August 24, 2020_

Jake Rockfield and Terence Okami had followed Judy Hopps all the way from her flat to Kaylee's house and then the train station, the Zootopia Express itself and then, departed with the bunny at the Tundratown Station. From there, they followed Hopps's taxi with their own to her new flat and continued to observe her. They missed the first time she went out to Internet café to find out about Finnick, but from then, they followed her carefully. There was no shame on bunny for she hadn't noticed them; Both Rockfield and Okami knew exactly what they were doing and their boss, "Mr. Fancy Suit", provided them with enough money to not allow any missteps.

Right after Judy Hopps finished her conversation with Wilde, the two of them walked in the same Internet café she did, paid the bored camel and sat by the PC she had used.

"So you say we can check what she was doing?" Terence asked doubtfully while Jake was bypassing the antivirus and installing malware of his own.

"Yeah, I've done it like thousand times. I can check the sites she viewed. Just a sec… And there we are. Hopps' browsing history," presented to him the coyote. Terence Okami watched it carefully, but could hardly find anything interesting.

"Mostly news about Wilde and Reynolds. And Azure Cove, whatever it is," stated the wolf hopelessly.

"Azure Cove? That sounds promising," coyote disagreed and entered the website. "Huh, looks like dating portal. She could be trying to contact Wilde through it."

"Can you find her conversation?" Hoped Okami, but his partner in crime just shrugged.

"If I find her login, then maybe. She used incognito mode, so it won't be that simple," Jake was doing some IT shtick that Terence had not a clue about, so instead of staring blankly in the screen, he stood up, walked outside and lit up a cigarette. Nights in Sahara Square were rather loud ones; the traffic was small, but streets were crowded with drunk partygoers, especially now, on the weekend evening. Terence looked around for a moment, finished his cigarette, tossed its butt on the ground and returned to the café. Jake was sitting there lazily waiting for something.

"What do you have?" Asked Okami sitting next to him.

"Got her login. It's DetCarrot I got it by… well, you wouldn't understand anyway, would you?" Guessed the coyote with a smirk.

"Prolly not. What are you waiting for now?"

"I'm brute-forcing the password. Trying out every combination, until I hit the right one. Well, the program does. I just sit here and wait," Jake explained casually.

"How long will it take?"

"Couple minutes, maybe a quarter, depending on length of her password. So, how do you think, what's in Reynolds' suitcase?" Wondered Jake.

"Our boss's dirt, I bet," shrugged Terence.

"Come on, even I know that much. What dirt?" The coyote wanted to know.

"Maybe something about Happytown recession?"

"What recession?" Asked Jake with confusion.

"Oh, that thing thirty years ago when Thomas Reynolds killed some fox recklessly driving. When Happytown folks went crazy, Reynolds backed off from the Happytown investments and he and boss would take over all the small businesses that went bankrupt. If someone resisted, we, the old Wolf Pack, "helped" the stubborn ones. You know, arranged couple of suicides," explained Terence.

"How did the thing not come out?" Wondered Jake.

"Who cares about couple preds when Thomas Reynolds had nearly lost his life? And besides, back in 80s and 90s we still had friends in ZPD. You joined the Wolf Pack at the sunset of our glory days, so you might not remember that."

"Well, if we had killed Duchess when we had a chance…" started Jake again.

"If, if, if… Whatever, Jake, the damage was done and the Wolf Pack is gone. Now it's the two of us," dismissed his suggestions Terence.

"Well, we could try to resurrect it. You know, if we killed Duchess," suggested Jake.

"What do you mean?"

"Mr. Fancy Suit would surely like to have his gang back in the Happytown, wouldn't he? After we're done covering his dirt, we could go to Duchess' house. Break in. Kill the kids and her like we should have long time ago. Whole her gang would fall apart and with some funds we could…"

"You've been watching her house again," guessed Terence.

"Like hell, I was. I was there, staring at her playing with her stupid kids some stupid board games and drinking wine like some stupid lady she is not. Duchess, bah! She killed some of my best friends, you know?" snarled the coyote.

"Those were my friends too, let me remind you. And I don't think that messing with Duchess, or ever again appearing in Happytown for the matter of speaking, is a wise thing to do," disagreed the wolf.

"Not even with…"

"I think you're in," interrupted him Okami and Jake realized that he was right indeed; he had managed to guess the password. Jake wrote down the right combination and checked Judy's profile at the dating site.

"Let's check out the conversations," the coyote decided and clicked a proper tab. There was only one active conversation with someone called Blues99, most likely Nicholas Wilde. Jake clicked it and then, cursed under his breath.

"Why?" Terence asked, staring at the blank log of conversation and Jake pointed at small note from webpage administrator: _"For your privacy, all conversation logs are wiped out ten minutes after first viewing. Carpe Diem :)_ "

"Rut it," cursed Okami. "No way of restoring that?"

"No. I could install a keylogger for the next time, but I bet Hopps will just use another computer and it will be useless," told him Jake.

"Well, do it. It won't hurt to try," suggested Terence. Jake proceeded then to install a keylogger. Bypassing the antivirus again took him just a moment and he was soon done.

"OK, that would be it. So we know that Wilde and Hopps might have contacted, but have not a clue about their conversation. What next?" Jake asked.

"It's simple. We keep following Hopps until she guides us to Wilde or the briefcase. And then, we kill everyone that know of it," replied Terence.

* * *

NOTE: Changed Judy's login to DetCarrot with no dot in the middle, since Fanfiction assumed it to be a link and removed the phrase. -.-


	10. Duchess

_8.26 am. Sunday, August 25, 2020_

Ungu-latte's Café was a small, quiet place located just by a train station of Inner Loop. When Judy Hopps arrived at the place, she spotted Barry Dickens almost immediately; the deer was sitting by one of the outside tables with a coffee on the table, reading the newspapers. He seemed around Judy's age and was dressed rather elegantly, probably having a morning coffee before work. The bunny walked over to his table casually and called him.

"Mr. Barry Dickens?" She asked, as if she hadn't been checking his social media profile for half an hour in the morning. The deer put newspaper aside phlegmatically and watched her carefully.

"Yes. Can I be of help, Miss…"

"White, Susan White from Wheeler and Marvin Detective Agency. May I take a bit of your time?" She pleased and the deer shrugged. It was better to not tell him that she was from ZPD; otherwise when Barnes and Fangmeyer would want to speak with him, he'd grow suspicious of her and tell them about it immediately.

"I guess. Please, sit down," he offered her the other seat by the table. Judy hopped on the chair and in meanwhile, Dickens called a waiter with gesture of paw. "Do you want something to drink? Their caffé mocha is excellent."

"I'll have it, then," she agreed and Barry ordered the drink from waiter who just came over.

"I guess it's about Lucas, isn't it? His mother called me yesterday," guessed Dickens and Judy nodded, confirming.

"His family is worried about him. They had no news of him since Tuesday and police doesn't seem to care too much," explained the bunny.

"Funny. He's a young, well-educated male prey from decent family. He should be the top priority," noticed Dickens and Judy couldn't tell if it was a joke or cynicism, so she just shrugged helplessly instead.

"He is to me. Could you tell me about him? According to his parents, you were best friends in time of studies," she pleased.

"If that helps. Yes, yes we were. We met on the first day of studies back in 2015. He was an introvert, rather quiet and keeping to himself. He had lots of acquaintances, but chose his actual friends very carefully. Turns out I was one of them," explained Dickens. "We hung out together a lot. I sometimes dragged him to parties and sometimes he even enjoyed it. He stutters a bit so there were some making fun out of him at first."

"Did he have any enemies?" Judy wondered, but he shook his head.

"No, hardly. He was cool with nearly everyone," assured Dickens and at that moment, the waiter brought Judy her coffee. The bunny sipped it and had to admit that it was excellent.

"What do you mean by 'nearly' everyone?" She asked curiously. Barry Dickens smiled awkwardly and patted his fingers against the table nervously.

"Lucas is… firm in his beliefs. Usually he never brought it up, but do you remember the whole Nighthowler and prey-predator issues? Lucas was an apostle of Bellwether's ideas even before her. The segregation, prey superiority, things like that. He ostentatiously ignored the predators in our group only bothering to criticize them."

"He hated them?"

"Despised, I'd rather say," corrected her Barry. He took a gulp of his coffee and Judy waited for him to continue. "And he didn't hold back when showing it to them. But again, most of the predators in our class, luckily for him, just ignored him."

"And there would be no one that could have done harm to Lucas?" Judy asked.

"Do you assume he's… dead?" Dickens' voice actually trembled at that thought.

"We have to consider every possibility," Judy assured with neutral voice. The deer nodded with understanding.

"Of course. There were several hotheads in our class, but if they were to do something to Lucas, they'd probably do it during the studies, not now. Let's see… There was Darius Claw, a tiger, Maverick Jules and Thomas Riverson, wolves, and Piotr Rzepliński, a coyote. Rzepliński seemed especially annoyed with Lucas, but I think he left Zootopia a few months ago and hasn't returned since. He wasn't from here, came back to his home. You spell Rzepliński as R,Z,E,P,L,I,N with an accent, S, K,I," he explained while Judy continued to make notes. "Other than that, I don't think there was anyone… wait…" Dickens hesitated, as he recollected something.

"What is it?" Judy watched him curiously.

"I might have an idea who'd want to hurt Lucas. You surely heard of the Mauler case?" He asked.

"Yes, yes I did. I even wanted to investigate it, but was forbidden," Judy confessed truthfully.

"No wonder, a guy like him would tear any bunny to shreds. No offence. Police suspected some huge predator, most likely a wolf, but never really got him. They also believed he was a student, given they were his usual targets. And then, there was this fox, Young. Cedric… No, Spencer Young, he studied electronics or something, was a chairman of Student Circle of Robotics. He organized his people so that no one would go home alone and things like that, to protect his own. Till the time he was attacked by the Mauler," explained Dickens.

"But he survived?" Guessed Judy. Kaylee had told her just previous evening that Barnes spoke with him recently, so the he couldn't have died there. Peculiar coincidence, by the way, that he could be involved in this case in more than one way.

"Yeah, somehow. Three weeks later, I saw him and Lucas fighting in the empty corridor. Spencer was holding him by his collar against the wall, threatening him. I intervened, but then Young just dropped him claiming that he was done with… what words did he use… the serpent-tongued trash, I think."

"Did Spencer Young know Lucas Wool beforehand?" Asked Judy, but Dickens just shrugged.

"I thought not and Lucas claimed he had no idea what whole ordeal was about. And I didn't notice the thing back then, but after that incident, there were no more Mauler attacks. Police connected the dots and arrested Young, claiming that he either was the killer or murdered him, but I think they had no proof to either of these accusations."

"Yes, I've heard of it. It seems like ZPD was quite desperate at the time," Judy noticed. She remembered that time well and helplessness of police against the mysterious murderer that always seemed a step ahead, even if it wasn't even her Precinct that investigated the thing.

"But Lucas seemed to believe the accusations. He started spreading gossips that fox actually was the Mauler and got himself attacked by some thugs to have an alibi. I don't know the details, but Lucas tried to get him expelled from the university at the point."

"How did it end?" Judy was noting every word of his.

"The way it started. One day, Spencer Young approached us and asked Lucas to speak with him in private. Lucas agreed, walked away with him. After he returned, he was all shaken up but unharmed. Whatever the fox told him back then, it terrified him and Lucas said not a word about him ever again. His hate toward predators in general grew even stronger, though."

"Do you think Spencer Young threatened him?"

"I don't know what else he could have done there."

"Did you report the whole situation to police? It could have been connected to the Mauler," noticed Judy, already knowing that he didn't.

"No, Lucas forbade me and the killings stopped anyway so I figured that whatever happened there… maybe it was better to leave it that way. Besides, I never saw or heard from Young again," he explained.

"I understand," Judy nodded, stopping herself from lecturing the deer. If she weren't rouge now, she'd gladly invite all three of them to ZPD to talk about Mauler; Dickens, Young and Wool. If she had a clue where Wool could be right now, that is. "Do you know what Lucas was doing recently for living?"

"Until a year ago, he planned to work in some company, don't remember the name, unfortunately. Recently he dropped the plan and was doing something… I don't really know what, but he seemed busy," the deer explained. Judy drank her coffee and considered his words.

"He wasn't in house for whole days, but didn't make any money, did he?" She asked with a voice of certainty, even if it was just a lucky shot. If Wool spent whole days digging a tunnel, then it would match the picture perfectly.

"Yes, yes he did. And he didn't want to tell me what exactly he was doing, but he said he had a plan. Didn't want to tell me what it was, though."

"Do you have any clues, though?" Judy asked, but he shook his head.

"I think he was driving to Tundratown to do it. Besides that I know nothing, I'm afraid," he apologized, but it was more than Judy needed. Donovan's prison was located in Tundratown as well and now, she had certainty about Wool's involvement.

"Thank you. You mentioned Bellwether before. Was Lucas active back in the Nighthowler crisis time?" She wondered, leading the conversation off-topic. She already had what she needed.

"Like I said, he was her apostle. When Gazelle organized the marches, he organized anti-marches. I think he was on TV once, even. If you asked about his enemies, I bet he made a couple back then, but again, it was years ago. If anyone…"

"You never know, Mr. Dickens," Judy disagreed and finished her coffee. "Thank you for your time. How much do I…" Judy pointed at the coffee.

"Oh, it's my treat, really," Barry just waved it off. "I just hope you find Lucas. As bigoted as he is, he is a good friend to me."

"I'll give my best, but I cannot promise anything," replied Judy standing up from the table. She offered her paw and Dickens shook it firmly.

"I couldn't demand more," assured the deer. "Good luck, Miss White."

"Thank you. Have a nice day, Mr. Dickens," Judy gave him a warm smile and left, heading for the bus station. Now, that was what she'd call a successful conversation; while she had no real evidence, the guts were telling her Lucas Wool was involved in the break-out of Donovan Jacobs and now he was gone most likely hiding from police. Finding him would be key to the investigation. And besides, there surfaced another name; Spencer Young, this same fox that Kaylee mentioned on the previous day. He designed devices to cause black-outs and now he appeared to be somehow connected to Wool. Those were two peculiar coincidences and like Judy's high school teacher liked to say, "History teaches us that when you have two coincidences, you have no coincidences". Judy could bet all her money that Spencer was involved in the whole thing, one way or another and she had to investigate that.

"Next stop, my favorite Internet café," she muttered to herself. The plan was simple; to read and learn as much about Spencer Young as she only could. She was going to prepare for the meeting and confront him. There was huge risk to that; if Spencer was one of criminals behind it, he could try to assault or kidnap her and would certainly be warned that she was digging if she led the conversation a wrong way. If she didn't want to mess things up even more, she had to approach it with utmost care.

* * *

 _9.55 pm. Sunday, August 25, 2020_

There is no such a thing as "Happytown" or "Fox District" anywhere in Zootopia. Officially, that is. Ask anyone casually and they should give you simple directions; take a bus to Acacia Street, walk a thousand feet south and there you are, in south-eastern part of Savanna Central. Both names of his home district always made Nick wonder. After all, there were just as many foxes as there was happiness around here; around fifteen percent surrounded by filth, dirt and graffiti. The best place to raise a child, his mother liked to joke bitterly.

Nick had no doubts that he owed huge part of his wits to the Happytown and its people. By the age of twelve he had better lesson of life than some would receive in their entire lives and to that, he was thankful to this place in awkward, bittersweet manner. All the feelings he had for Happytown were bittersweet, he realized breathing in some unidentified stench, as he walked just two streets away from his mother's flat and walked down into some dark alley. Temptation to pay her a visit or even just throw at her window a rock with a message was strong, but he was almost certain her house was watched and he couldn't afford to be caught. Not just yet, not when he had an actual lead. Or a concept of lead which pushed him to visiting the Duchess. The good thing was that he never got under her skin. The bad thing was Duchess used to be a local crime boss and those usually hate cops they can't buy. And she knew there was no price for Wilde.

Nick found entrance to her night club, "Diamond", in a well-lit alley guarded by two tigers in suits, wearing shades and earpieces. They looked down at him coldly.

"The club's full. Try tomorrow," one of them ordered.

"My name's Wilde. Tell Duchess that I'm asking to see her," replied the fox firmly, as if he knew she'd agree to see him. The tiger said something to his earpiece and waited for the reply. He then ordered his partner to search the fox. As they found nothing on him, he opened the door for him.

"Stairs on the left. Behave yourself, Wilde," said the tiger.

"I will," Nick assured as passing by them. Barely had he crossed the doorstep, the door closed behind him and he found himself in a dark, spacious room filled with deafeningly loud electronic music and purple and indigo lights. Somewhere in the back he could see a bar with professional baristas serving their young clients swiftly. Wilde watched the crowd of drunken teenagers and students, most of them predators, and found the said stairs. At their base two wolf bodyguards searched him again and allowed him to walk up. It leaded to a balcony at which stood other two guards; this time these were a fox in his forties and a young, slim wolf. Nick heard of both and knew no one that could handle them both at once in hand-to-hand combat. The fox he even knew by name: Lionel O'Dyna, he lived in this same block of flats as his mother.

"Let him pass," said a melodic voice and the two stepped aside. Nick saw a wolf of perfectly white fur in her forties sitting in a wide couch in front of him. She wore an elegant black jacket and dark blue jeans, on her neck hung a beautiful silver necklace and on left paw was a wedding ring. Her single blue eye watched Nick carefully; all that remained after the other was a long scar up to her forehead.

The Duchess, or Lady Jennifer Tompkins, was a mobster Happytown deserved. She came from a poor family that had to sell their house for a small flat due to Reynolds backlash thirty years ago. At age of 13 she started robbing rich stores and houses in Sahara Square with her boyfriend Michael Tompkins. They were arrested having just after graduating high school in 1994. They spent then one and half year in prison. After their release, instead of returning to B&Es, they gathered trusted folks, gathered their savings, borrowed from Mr. Big what they still missed and started their "Diamond" nightclub. They made a club like none in Happytown; it wasn't obscure, dirty or overpriced, but felt like one of the biggest nightclubs in Downtown for half the money. Some fine DJs, decent baristas, good music and guaranteed safety. And you could drink if you were eighteen, which made them really popular around the city. When ZPD tried to investigate underage drinking in her establishment, Duchess and her boyfriend paid off proper officers to keep it down. Even though they spent all of their savings and made some debts, these investments proved themselves worth it; "Diamond" soon became the most attended nightclub in Happytown, attracting not only its own folks, but even mammals from other parts of town, especially predators. But the nightclub wasn't their only investments; the Tompkins wolves appreciated value of men just as much as one of their establishments. They'd find those at their lowest; ex-street boxers, mob quitters or ZPD dropouts and give them a second chance in "Diamond". Jennifer Tompkins, for those actions and her frequent charity activities focusing on Happytown, earned the title she loved so much: "The Duchess".

The peak of "Diamond's" fame came around the time when Jennifer finally married Michael Tompkins in spring of 2002. Pregnant with their children, she was making plans to open up another club in another part of Happytown. But it was their success that brought them misery. "Diamond" wasn't the only night club in Happytown. In fact, they were the only one not controlled by the Wolf Pack mob which somehow tolerated their existence for last few years. The preparations to open another club was a tipping point to them, though; another club like "Diamond" could force them into closing their own ones, as their clientele was growing thinner and thinner with every year. Wolf Pack boss, Harry "Iron" Lupe, demanded Tompkins to cancel their plans. They refused. Wolf Pack sent then his boys to demolish their club. Tompkins people sent these goons to a hospital instead. Situation was growing tenser, but no one was going to stand down. The things finally went off at the evening of 22nd July 2002. According to Lupe's goons, five of them broke into Tompkins house and tied both of them up. They began to torture both Tompkins in front of one another. They broke Michael's legs and arms, slashed up Jennifer's chest and face and gouged out her left eye. In the end, they raped Jennifer and then killed Michael. They left her in puddle of her husband's blood, wronged and wounded, with an ultimatum; she had two weeks to close "Diamond" permanently. Jennifer ended up in hospital fighting for her unborn children's life. From hospital bed she closed "Diamond" until further notice and testified to police; quite aware that Wolf Pack boss was untouchable, she claimed she didn't know the attackers or their motives. Wolf Pack celebrated victory, completely ignoring Duchess's loyal servants. And while Wolf Pack raised their glasses, they plotted. They gathered information, they followed Wolf Pack members. They prepared a retaliation attack that wouldn't just humiliate them; it was meant to wipe Wolf Pack out. It took place at night of 12th August. No one really knows what exactly happened. What public learnt later was that all core members of Wolf Pack disappeared within those few hours without a trace. Both Harry Lupe's brothers were found dead in their flat and "Iron" himself died pushed off a train station straight under Zootopia Express just at the dawn. ZPD never proved what whole Happytown knew; that Jennifer Tompkins planned it all. It was that night that legend of the Duchess was born.

After dealing with Wolf Pack, Duchess took over best of their clubs and forced into closing the remaining ones. She enlarged her gang and pushed other mobs away from Happytown. She soon gave birth to two children, Alex and Olivia, but never remarried. She ruled the nightclubs of Happytown with iron fist. Nothing happened without her approval; no drugs, no police controls, no new clubs established. Duchess was a mobster with her private army in the end, but she was the best mobster Happytown could have. Not committing murders or kidnappings, keeping other gangs away from Happytown while focusing on her nightclubs and making heavy money out of them. Legal money, even, as she decided to go legit with her business so ZPD would have nothing on her in case they decided to shut her down as they had with other gangs recently. She was a legit businesswoman and a known charity activist nowadays.

Keeping this all in mind, Nick bowed before Duchess with respect while she watched him curiously.

"Thank you for receiving me, Duchess," said the fox respectfully. He was aware that her insanely loyal guards were ready to beat crap out of him just for offending her.

"Nicholas Wilde. I've had many interesting guests recently and yet, you managed to beat them all," said Lady Tompkins with a weak smile as she pointed him another couch for him to sit down. As he did, she continued. "And I assume you're not here for usual police control, are you? I tend to know about those."

"I wish I could be performing a police control," Nick assured with a smile. "But I have to ask for your help instead."

"Of course, you do. But beforehand, please tell me one thing; did you kill Thomas Reynolds?" Duchess demanded to know. Her right eye was drilling into him, searching for slightest sign of dishonesty and Nick knew that she wouldn't accept a lie or even an evasive answer. And she'd know if he gave her either.

"I did not. By the time I arrived at the residence, he was already dead," Nick replied, deciding to give her as much detail as he found it reasonable. Duchess nodded with understanding, seemingly disappointed with the answer.

"Shame. It would serve as poetic justice if you had," she said, playing with her wedding ring. She clearly believed his words, as much as she seemed dissatisfied.

"Revenge, rather," corrected her Nick carefully and she nodded.

"Poetic nonetheless. But I guess you can't call it justice now that you're bound to enforce letter of law. Or are you not anymore?" She wondered.

"As far as I'm concerned, I'm still a ZPD officer," Nick assured and the wolf acknowledged amusingly carefulness with which he chose his words.

"The city seems to claim otherwise. Whenever I heard of Wilde on news in last two days, it was a synonym of a murderer. After so much you did for Happytown, you suddenly gave foxes a bad name, Nicholas," Duchess told him and it stung even more because she was right in her words. The city really seemed to have turned its back on him. "But you didn't come here to listen to my golden thoughts, did you?"

"There is wisdom in your words, Duchess," Nick disagreed.

"But you're not here for them, Nicholas, you flatterer," Duchess waved it off with a smile. "You've come to make business and while I have not a clue what I could possibly offer to you, I'll listen to your request."

"Thank you, Duchess. Like you know now, I have been framed into Reynolds' murder and I am now looking for the real killers. I have a lead about one of them that brought me to you."

"How come?" Lady Tompkins watched him intrigued, but still playing with her ring.

"One of the murderers engaged me in a fight back in Reynolds' residence, hence the wounds," Nick looked down at his bandaged left paw meaningfully. "I am certain that he was a street boxer, former or not."

"If you think it was one of my men, I must disappoint you," stated the Duchess. "As much as Reynolds' death did satisfy me, I did not orchestrate it. I am past these solutions."

"I'd never imply that lady like you could be inflicted in such vicious dealings, Duchess," assured Wilde with a dash of irony and she actually smiled at that. Good sign. "I believe though, that you might be just able to help me identify the proper mammal, if you'd be so kind."

"Describe him," demanded the lady. For a moment, she glanced at the people partying below them and then, her sight returned to Wilde.

"A high, well-built wolf. Muscular, even. Grey fur, dark eyes. Likes to use talons and teeth. He seemed to have a foreign accent. And he wasn't too clever either," said the fox and even though Duchess remained silent for a moment, he already knew that she recognized the described wolf.

"And how did you learn his accent in fight?" She teased him.

"He talked after beating crap out of me," replied Nick, not bothering to sugar-coat his defeat. Duchess watched him carefully for a moment, considering his words and fox couldn't really read her expression.

"And tell me, Nicholas, how do you expect to pay for this sort of information?" She wondered and Nick smiled weakly.

"I'm just a poor fox. I figured you'd know best what sort of payment would satisfy you, Duchess," Nick assured. In fact, he had no idea what to offer to her, except for all the sorts of things he couldn't afford to give her. The Duchess watched him carefully for a long moment and then, she nodded agreeing.

"The wolf you are looking for is probably Gerard Greymane. Like you said, he used to be my boxer back in late 00's, but he got disqualified permanently for biting and using claws," Duchess told him and her fox guardian snorted resentfully.

"A huge waste of money, that's what he was," he muttered.

"Precisely, Lionel, but everyone deserves a chance," agreed Lady Tompkins. "You'd probably want to know where to find him, Nicholas," guessed the Duchess, turning to Nick again. _And how I'm going to pay for it,_ crossed Nick's mind, but he just nodded. He'd learn both things in proper time.

"Have you heard of Calveits?" Asked Duchess and Nick confirmed.

"Henry Calveit is a stock trader, if I remember right. He owns couple of stores in Sahara Square. He has a daughter, doesn't he?"

"Yes, Scarlet. She's the girl people are seeing Greymane with nowadays."

"Does he dare to appear in Happytown after wasting all the money you invested in him, Duchess?" Asked Nick skeptically.

"Of course not. But if you assume my eye doesn't reach beyond Happytown, then you're hugely mistaken, Nicholas. Anyway, it seems that Scarlet Calveit rented Greymane a flat somewhere in Meadowlads six months ago. I'll give you an address in a moment," she continued and with corner of eye, Nick noticed her fox guardian, Lionel, call some other guard and give him a short order. "What are her intentions with Greymane, I do not know," Duchess added.

"Calveits don't happen to have financial problems or hold a grudge against Reynolds, do they?" guessed Nick, but the mobster just shrugged helplessly.

"Not that I know of. I never had a need to deal with them personally."

"I understand. Thank you for your help, Duchess," Wilde said respectfully. That was all he was going to learn here. "I am indebted to you."

"And you'd probably want to know how I expect you to pay your debt, wouldn't you?" Duchess asked and giggled softly as Nick nodded. "It's on the house, Nicholas," she assured and watched his confusion with satisfaction. "Really."

"Beg your pardon, Duchess, but Happytown taught me that on house one gets only a solid beating or jaundice," Nick stated carefully and the fox guard snorted again.

"Watch your tongue, Wilde. Duchess gives, you accept," Lionel warned him.

"No, no, he's right," Duchess disagreed with a smirk. "And he deserves to know what he owes my favor to."

"If you say so, Duchess," the fox guard agreed reluctantly.

"What do I owe this gift to, then?" Wondered Nick, probably a bit too insolently, but he could feel that she favored him for some reason.

"You might not think of yourself as such, but you're a local patriot, Nicholas. Whenever someone from Happytown came to your door asking for help, you never turned them down, but genuinely tried to help them instead," she explained and Nick smiled to himself. Karma returns, it seems. Even if Duchess was only giving this info for her own advantage eventually, not out of kindness. "And being a local patriot myself, I couldn't keep an eye shut on this sort of attitude. Hence, this small favor is on the house," explained the Duchess. At that moment, a guard approached Lionel and handed him small paper. The fox passed it to Wilde.

"And here's Greymane's current address and last photo of him I have. I assume that's all you'd need," she noticed.

"Thank you for your kindness, Duchess," Nick bowed his head respectfully.

"Do you have means to get there unnoticed?" Wondered Duchess, but interrupted him even before he replied. "Of course not. You're on the run. Lionel, prepare my car. We're taking a ride to Meadowlands."

"We, Duchess?" The old fox asked doubtingly.

"Yes, me and Nicholas. What would be the point of giving the boy guidance for him only to fall into ZPD's paws? Streets around here are swarming with cops searching for him. Not that they got any safer thanks to that," she explained cynically.

"Of course. I'll prepare the car," Lionel agreed reluctantly. The fox walked down the stairs hurriedly while Duchess lifted herself from couch slowly and Nick followed her immediately. They walked down the stairs and turned into a backdoor that led them outside. There already waited for them a small, black sports car. Lionel opened the door for Duchess and she took driver's seat, while Nick sat next to her.

"Do you wish for an escort, Duchess?" Lionel asked politely.

"There's no need for that," she disagreed and closed the door. Old fox stepped back as she started the engine and left the back alley onto an empty street of Happytown. Duchess drove rather slowly, just under speed limit. She watched Nick with corner of her eye.

"Lionel is a good man. Very loyal, if not too precautious," she assured.

"I do not doubt that. I only wonder what is it that you'd want to discuss not even in front of him, though?" Nick wondered and the Duchess chuckled.

"So you noticed."

"It's my job to notice things, Duchess," Nick reminded her. "If you just wanted me to get safely to Meadowlands, you'd have Lionel take me there."

"Indeed. Tell me, how do you find this whole situation? City speaks only of you and Reynolds these days and sets you on quite the opposite sides of scale," she wondered.

"I'm focusing on proving my innocence, really," Nick just waved it off, but she smirked.

"I know, but between chasing leads and avoiding cops, you must have seen plenty newspapers with _murderous fox slaughtering the saint of Zootopia_ ," Duchess pointed out.

"They called him saint of Zootopia? Wow, Reynolds Industries are doing some heavy PR there, aren't they?" The fox noticed half-jokingly.

"And mayor, Thomas Reynolds' old good friend, echoes them glibly. On the other hand, ZPD fell awfully silent when it comes to defending you. Since the arrest warrant, no official statements," Duchess pointed out.

"It's not their role," Nick defended them.

"I believe the opposite. When my men fall in trouble, I stand up for them," Duchess disagreed firmly.

"With all due respect, Duchess, you're a mobster, not a ZPD chief," Nick pointed out carefully and she chuckled. "We solve things differently."

"Only by tools… Oh, curses," muttered Duchess, as red and blue lights flashed right behind them. The police car was clearly there to stop them. "Once in a lifetime you go for a ride with a convict and they…" She muttered, as she pulled over and put on an emergency brake. The police car stopped right behind her and a massive rhino came out of it.

"What do we do?" Nick asked.

"You sit quiet and look innocent. I do the talking."

"I am innocent," Nick assured with a grin.

"You're a fox in Zootopia, Nicholas. ZPD finds you bound to crime," reminded him Duchess half-jokingly. She then turned on the dome light, rolled down the window for about third of height and placed her paws on the steering wheel. A young rhino came over and watched her carefully.

"Good evening, ma'am. Do you know why I stopped you?" He asked inquisitively and Duchess shook her head.

"Not a clue, sir," she assured.

"And where are you headed?" The rhino continued with another question.

"Oh, just on my way through the town," She watched the police officer carefully, but he just snorted at her evasive answer.

"Your license and insurance certificate," the rhino ordered harshly and Duchess complied; she slowly reached for the said documents and offered them to the officer. The rhino studied it carefully.

"So, Mrs. Tompkins, I'll ask again. Do you know why I stopped you?" He repeated his question after he finished studying her papers. Duchess watched him in silence, confused at first. She certainly didn't expect to hear that question again now that she gave the documents and he saw the name. Not in her district.

"You're new here, aren't you?" She guessed.

"I don't see how…" the rhino tried to reply.

"Riverton! What did I tell you?!" Another police officer burst out of his car and joined them; it was a black wolf somewhere in his forties dressed in a messed up uniform; he had been clearly snoozing just a moment earlier. "What did I tell you about stopping cars without asking me?!"

"Y… you told me not to wake you up…" protested the rhino.

"And it's not a reason to stop one of Duchess' cars…" The wolf's voice trembled, as he looked at the driver and recognized the mobster herself. "Oh, Lady… Good evening. Sorry for intruding. It's Riverton, he's young, reckless, doesn't know the… streets," the wolf apologized awkwardly while stealing the documents from his confused partner's paws.

"It's nothing, Will. How's your sister doing?" Duchess asked casually.

"The therapy's been doing some miracles. We've been to friend's wedding last week and she's been dancing like in the old days," he explained with thankfulness overflowing. "Oh, I see your companion's tired, isn't he?" The wolf quickly changed subject and pointed at Wilde who had been pretending to sleep since the first cop approached.

"Oh, yes. That's my new barista; I've been showing him around the club and I'm now driving him back home. Was there a reason behind stopping us or can we proceed?" Duchess hoped watching the two carefully.

"Was there, Riverton?" Asked the wolf cop, electrifying his young partner with sight.

"No," rhino replied tersely.

"Sorry again, ma'am. You're free to go," the wolf apologized returning her documents and Duchess nodded thankfully. "Please drive safely."

"Have a good night, gentlemen," she said, as the officers stepped back and the mobster drove away. The Duchess turned to Nick. "The only innocent fox is a sleeping one, huh? You can wake up now," she told Nick as they left cops far behind.

"Green eyes could be a giveaway otherwise," Nick explained; it was a rather rare color among his kind. "Do you know all the officers by name and family?"

"Some of them I do and William Osbourne is one of the most useful wolves I've ever… befriended. Me and police are trying to not make our lives any harder, you know how it works. But I digress. What I wanted to say before, was that gangs and police differ only in fact that your actions are legal. Loyalty works this same. When your man stands for your principles, you stand for him. And they got the arrest warrant against you on the second day of investigation. They do not denounce claims that you're a murderer despite lack of… confirmation. Not even Chief Bogo does," the Duchess pointed out.

"The moment he claims the warrant is a mistake, he'll undermine police's credibility and it is the last thing he needs now. And besides, I'm his guy, so no one will believe him. Bogo's paws are tied, it's not his case." Nick argued. "I think I even heard him saying in an interview…"

"What every reasonable police officer would say; that warrant means nothing, that it's judge's thing to judge and so on. No one's listening to timid voices when they have radical ones and Bogo must realize it."

"For now, I have more important things to worry about than my reputation."

"And later, when you clear your name? If you do?" The Duchess demanded to know.

"It's the media, Duchess. They'll say anything to get people to watch them," Nick just shrugged it off. "They'll clear my name just as quickly."

"Maybe it's about the media. Or maybe it's about the city and how it treats us, preds of Happytown, Nicholas," the mobster disagreed. "No one among city elites I happen to revolve around minds the fact that back in the day, I slaughtered Wolf Pack."

"So you did kill them," Nick noticed with a smirk.

"Isn't it common knowledge these days? Money does its miracles. Everyone knows old Reynolds brought ruin on multiple Happytown companies after Thomas's accident in which your father died. We all know it was Thomas Reynolds that encouraged his father's actions; he had a decisive voice in the company even back then. Did anyone care? No, because…"

"He had money and Happytown did not. I am still missing your point though, Duchess," Nick noticed carefully.

"My point is, Zootopia will never truly respect you. They will pretend to, as long as they find it convenient, but the moment they have to choose… they'll go for the more profitable option. You make for a neat hero, but a poor business plan," she said with a weak smile. "Instead of Zootopia, you should work for someone that will actually respect you. For someone that would see you as you, Nicholas Piberius Wilde, not another shifty fox or a bargaining chip."

"I'm here for Judy," Wilde stated firmly.

"And she'd jump in fire for you, but at this rate, you will only burn together. And you two deserve better than to burn down to ashes, Nicholas," Duchess warned him and it stung Nick right in the heart. By running away, was he bringing Judy down? He could be.

"I appreciate care, Duchess, but my loyalty lies fully with ZPD," he replied.

"And it should work both ways. Does it?" Duchess asked rhetorically. "If you ever change your mind, just come to Diamond. I really could use a fox like you. And you could use my help," assured the wolf and Wilde nodded with understanding. As far as he was from considering the idea, he appreciated it.

They drove the rest of road in uninterrupted silence. Passing through the Rainforest District, they found their way to blocks of flats in Meadowlands. Duchess parked at one of the empty streets and killed the engine.

"There we are; Haymarket 45, flat 12; that's where Greymane lives. And… looks like we're lucky," Duchess pointed at a wolf leaving the building she spoke of. "I'm quite sure that's him." Nick watched Greymane carefully; he was very high for his species and unusually muscular. The wolf was dressed rather elegantly, probably going out to somewhere. Nick didn't get to watch his attackers back in Reynolds' residence, but seeing just the way guy walked, he was pretty much sure.

"He's the guy. Thank you, Duchess, I'll take it from here," Nick assured.

"Are you planning on breaking into his house?" Duchess asked with a thrill of excitement. Nick knew what was coming, but he couldn't lie to her now.

"No shops here are opened at this time around here. If he left, then he probably went to a bar or a club, especially given how he was dressed. It will give me enough time to look around his flat," Nick explained opening the door.

"Us, you meant," corrected him Lady Tompkins. Fox watched her doubtfully.

"I didn't know this side of you was still there, Duchess," he said realizing that protests would be futile.

"You know what they say. Once a thief, always a thief," smirked the Duchess, as she opened the glove compartment and found there her lockpick. "Come on, we don't have all night," she hurried him and left the car. Nick followed her to the front door of the block.

"Magnetic lock. I guess we need to use the intercom," muttered Duchess. Nick pressed a random number and waited about fifteen seconds.

 _"_ _Yeah?"_

"Hey, it's me," he said and the door opened without asking anything else. Nick smirked as he held the door for Lady Tompkins. "Always works," he added and Duchess smiled with approval. They climbed to the second floor and found Greymane's flat. Lady Tompkins crouched by the door and started picking the lock carefully. Somewhere in the halfway, she started giggling.

"What?" Nick watched her curiously.

"I just realized my kids would kill me if they heard what I'm doing here," she explained. "I'm supposed to be a serious businesswoman these days, not a burglar."

"Assisting a convict," added fox and at that moment, she opened the door. "Uh. Do you smell it?" He twisted his lips with disgust.

"Mildew and rotten trash. Come on, let's look around," she suggested and they walked inside carefully not to knock anything over and there were lots of stuff lying on the floor; clothes, baseball bats, some full trash bags.

"What a mess. Makes a decent flat look pokey," muttered the Duchess with maternal disapproval, while trying not to breathe with her nose.

" _Unspacious,_ even, as our friend would say," Wilde chuckled.

"What friend?" Duchess asked curiously and Nick realized he had forgotten for a second that it wasn't Judy with him in there. It's been just a few days, but he missed her and working with her terribly.

"Never mind. I'll check the bedroom, you look around the living room," he suggested.

"If you can call it that. Gosh, what an odor!" She cursed as stepping into the kitchen. "Chivalry is dead," she muttered under his nose and Nick chuckled.

"It's not a bed of roses here either," he assured apologetically before stepping inside Greymane's bedroom. What he found there was just the usual mess of someone not expecting any guests or caring about housecleaning one bit. Windowsills and empty shelves were covered in a thick layer of dust and wolf's clothes lied in two huge piles; questionably clean ones on one side of the bed and dirty on the other. Finding nothing interesting at first sight, Nick checked two cupboards and looked under the bed; there he saw a cardboard box. He grabbed and pulled it without any hopes, probably expecting something like other trash or underwear in there. Instead, he found newspaper clippings.

"That's interesting…" he muttered under his nose, reading several of them. And then, he cursed under his breath as he realized the pattern. "Duchess! Come here, I've got something!" He called her.

"I found something too," the mobster assured, as she walked inside the bedroom and watched Nick's finding. "Newspapers? They don't seem too old."

"They're not. But look at the content," he encouraged her. The Duchess sat by Nick and grabbed first few of them. She saw it just as quick as Nick had.

"Those are Mauler's victims. All the newspapers here, they speak of Mauler's victims. He even underlined their names. Which could mean Greymane is…" she realized.

"…the Mauler. There's a list of his victims over here," Nick handed to her another newspaper clipping on back of which, Gerard Greymane wrote the names, and then, crossed most of them off. Duchess took a photo with her phone.

"Mauler killed fifteen, but we have seventeen names here. Two of them are circled, though," she noticed.

"Lucas Wool and Spencer Young. And only one of them is not crossed off. Young," read Nick. "Sounds familiar."

"I don't know about Wool, but Spencer's from Happytown, a red fox like you. Smart boy. I'd know if he was dead."

"I know of him. Is Greymane targeting him?" Nick wondered. "No, he was that guy that survived Mauler's attack back when he was on his spree."

"Is he your murderer?" wondered Duchess.

"Greymane? He's the Mauler, I bet. I also bet he was the one in the mansion. One of the two, that is, since there was someone else and police claims it was a fox that killed…" Nick paused as he realized what Duchess had already figured out.

"Spencer Young. I know half of Happytown has a motive, but his is top-notch. And he sort of… contacted… Mauler that you're pretty sure was there. He fits the picture," argued the Duchess.

"But it's only a theory without much proof to it. It's too early to just surrender to ZPD and tell them my version," realized Nick.

"Don't you trust them?" Duchess wondered, quite surprised. She didn't trust them herself, but she wouldn't expect it from a police officer.

"Greymane's boss back at the mansion said they had a cop working for them. Unless we have solid proof against Reynolds' murderers, I cannot fall into ZPD's paws just yet," he explained. Duchess nodded with understanding.

"Well then, you might have just an opportunity. Greymane left a note in the kitchen. He's going to meet with someone on Monday evening," she told him, waving a small sheet of paper in front of his face. Nick grabbed it and read.

"Monday, 8 pm., Millennium Tower Construction Site. S," fox read. "It could be Spencer Young or Scarlet Calveit. Either way, it's worth checking out," he stated. "Alright, we have enough. We'd better go before Greymane returns."

"Yes, let's put everything back the way it was," Duchess agreed with him and walked back to the kitchen with the note. In meanwhile, Nick rearranged the newspaper clippings more or less the way they were, put the box back on its place and together with Duchess, left the flat. She locked it and they came back to the car. Duchess started it and drove off immediately.

"So you're going to the Millennium Tower, aren't you?" She guessed.

"I need proof against Greymane and to know if Calveit or Young are actually involved," Nick confirmed. "And yes, I know it is dangerous. And that it might be a trap," he added before she got to speak. The Duchess smirked.

"And yet, you're going in," she noticed doubtfully.

"I'm a sly fox, Duchess. I can handle it," Nick assured. "I'll record the meeting, gather the proof. Then I will notify police that Greymane is the Mauler and, if necessary, continue investigating his boss," he explained. He trusted her enough to tell her all this. Not that his next step wasn't obvious.

"Or we could do it my way," suggested the wolf.

"What do you mean, Duchess?"

"Do you know how I'd handle the thing if it was my man being framed?" The Duchess asked and Nick watched her carefully, gesticulating that he was listening. "I'd have my men kidnap Greymane and whoever he's going to meet at Millennium Tower, take them to seclusion and beat the confession out of them. Then I'd find the further proof in their houses or hideouts. Finally, I'd deliver them all to ZPD and clear your name. That is, if you were my man, Nicholas," Duchess explained and Nick knew that she really meant it; if he said yes to her offer, she'd deal with all of it without breaking a sweat. Duchess knew value of mammals like Nick. Still, it changed nothing.

"No offence, Duchess, but it is an offer I cannot accept," the fox apologized.

"I know. It was worth trying anyway," surprisingly, she didn't insist. They drove in silence for a moment more until Nick told Duchess to drop him off there; they were near a bridge he had left his stuff under.

"Thank you for everything, Duchess. I am greatly indebted to you, but I please you and your men to not interfere with Millennium Tower," he said, as she stopped the car.

"I promise not to. Good luck, Nicholas. Go and clear your name. Happytown needs you," she wished him. The fox nodded, closed the door and walked away. Lady Tompkins watched the fox with this awful feeling that she was seeing him for the last time. She snarled with frustration and drove away with screech of tires. She then grabbed her phone and called her right hand; Lionel O'Dyna.

 _"_ _Yes, ma'am?"_ Asked the fox.

"I want you to locate Spencer Young for me. Once you see him, keep sight on the boy around the clock; be ready to snatch him at any given moment. Also, send trusted people to watch his house."

 _"_ _Understood,"_ confirmed Lionel. _"How did it go with Wilde, if I may ask?"_

"As expected, I couldn't get to recruit him. I'm on my way home. Don't expect me in the Diamond today," Duchess replied tersely, clearly not in the mood.

 _"_ _Of course. Good night, my lady,"_ bided her O'Dyna.

"G'night," she replied and hung up. Speeding, but not bothered by police, she made it to her luxurious house in Riverside; a small gated community just on the brink of Happytown. She parked the car in garage and climbed stairs to the hall.

"I'm home!" She announced wiping her feet off and she heard some steps. From behind the corner popped up Olivia and Alex, Duchess's teenage children.

"Hey mom!" Her daughter greeted her.

"Hey. I thought you were going to stay late in Diamond today," noticed Alex with a surprise.

"No, change of plans. And what are you two up to?" Lady Tompkins wondered. On the evenings when none of her children were going out, the three of them would usually watch some movie, play videogames or bring out a cardboard.

"Bought some pizza, just started a movie. A comedy. Wanna join in?" offered Alex.

"Is there enough pizza for three?" His mother asked and he shrugged.

"We can share," he assured a bit reluctantly. Lady Tompkins took off her coat and the three of them walked to the dining room with huge 50" TV; the movie was paused just at the opening titles. Tompkins family sat on the coach and started watching. But as much as movie was enjoyable, Jennifer Tompkins could hardly laugh at it, still returning with her thoughts to Wilde. It was only making her more and more frustrated, though, to the point when her kids finally noticed it half an hour later and paused the movie.

"Something's wrong, mom?" Alex wasn't even asking, he just stated the fact, while his twin sister stared at her mother with concern. Lady Tompkins usually didn't tell them of Diamond business trying to give them an illusion of normal life. But this time… it wasn't Diamond related, was it?"

"You didn't kill anyone, did you?" Olivia asked doubtingly and her mother chuckled.

"Not since you were born," she promised. "It's just… Do you ever think that you've treated everyone fair, you know, by reason, and yet feel this sting… as if you should have done something more?" She asked.

"Yes mom, it's a defect some mammals develop commonly called conscience," Alex replied grinning sassily. The sight Duchess gave him would make any of her subordinates or pocketed cops beg for mercy. Her son just shrugged, though. And then, his sister threw a cushion right in his face.

"Oh, shut it. What happened, mom? You can tell us," Olivia encouraged her.

"Nicholas Wilde came to me today asking for help. I gave him more than he asked for without expecting anything in return and he still rejected joining me in exchange for actually solving his problems, but I feel… awkward about leaving him like that," she explained.

"Why?" Asked Alex.

"Because he probably is walking into a trap set for him. He might die there."

"So what? You always say that we're all adults. If he rejected your help, then he should just suck it up without you…" continued her son, but then he hesitated. "Uh oh."

"Uh oh indeed," agreed Olivia.

"What?!" Lady Tompkins watched the teens with confusion.

"You like him. Like like, I mean," her daughter diagnosed with tone suggesting that it was at least a fatal, incurable disease.

"What?! I don't… Not the way you think, pup," Lady Tompkins disagreed, elbowing her daughter playfully. "I guess I could bullshit you about how he's a treasure to Happytown, and he really is, but if it was just for it, then I'd probably shrug it off and figure that he'll be fine on his own like he claims. I helped him enough. But Wilde…" The Duchess hesitated awkwardly. "He has this sly charm I remembered your father by. And breaking in Greymane's house with him… For a moment I felt like I was fifteen again and back with Michael." Lady Tompkins sighed deeply. "Ah, crap, I'm getting nostalgic in my old age, don't I? You won't notice when I start speaking of old good times and this sort of crap," she muttered shamefully, but both her children watched her with weak smiles. To them, she always was first a mother and only then a mobster.

"Everyone has a soft spot, mom. If he managed to hit yours, maybe he deserves that you help him out a bit more? You know, not as Duchess, but Mrs. Tompkins?" suggested Olivia.

"Probably, but I don't really know how. I'm not involving gang in this. It would be awkward for both of us," her mother shrugged helplessly.

"Calling ZPD is not an option, is it?" Guessed Alex.

"No, it will only mess things up and leave Wilde with no proof of his innocence," confirmed his mother and the children continued to think on it.

"I thought it's police that's supposed to prove guilt, not Wilde his innocence," noticed Alex sassily.

"And I thought you're supposed to be helping, boy," reminded him Duchess.

"Don't you have someone outside the mob? Someone that would care for Wilde and could help him? Someone like Judy Hopps or some Wilde's friend," suggested Olivia.

"Hopps isn't in position to help him," disagreed Lady Tompkins and then, an idea came to her mind. "But someone else is. Alex, where's my phone?" She asked and teenager went for the smartphone back to the hall. Lady Tompkins found the right number quickly and called it.

"Are you back in town, boy?" She asked the moment he picked up.

 _"_ _Duchess, ma'am! To tell the truth, when we exchanged numbers, I never expected you'd be the one calling,"_ replied a surprised voice of a young male.

"I don't collect numbers I have no intentions of using, boy. A little birdie told me you'd be interested in finding Wilde. And that you could help him out," Duchess guessed and heard laughter.

 _"_ _Um… Yes! You want me to help Wilde? Just like that? No hooks?"_ The voice asked carefully.

"You offend me. Can you do it?"

 _"_ _I… can, I think. I mean, we're not investigating Reynolds' murder, but if you told me where to find him, I'd gladly help out an old friend… You're sure he's innocent, aren't you?"_

"One hundred percent, luckily for him," confirmed Duchess. "Do you want to know where he is or not?"

 _"_ _But of course, Duchess. Where can I find him?"_

"Millennium Tower Construction Site, tomorrow at 8 pm. He'll be recording meeting of true murderers, but it might as well be a trap. One of them will be wolf Gerard Greymane, extremely dangerous. I might be giving you a false alarm here, but make sure nothing happens to Wilde."

 _"_ _Of course, I will. And if I might ask, you're telling me all of this because…?"_

"Treat it as a favor from a concerned citizen, boy, not the Duchess. And if Wilde asks, tell him that as well," she demanded. She had to make it clear; that it wasn't gang-involved thing, but her good will there.

 _"_ _I understand. Thank you, ma'am,"_ assured the voice.

"It's nothing, boy," disregarded it Duchess.

 _"_ _It is not, ma'am. Thank you once again,"_ disagreed the young male. He then wished her good night and hung up. The Duchess put her phone back with relieved smile.

"Who was that?" Asked Alex.

"A boy from neighborhood I once failed to recruit and regretted it ever since. Now, where's that pilot? We have a movie to finish," replied his mother with smirk giving them a clear signal; as thankful as she was to them, the conversation was over. Twins just smiled to each other proudly. Being able to help their mother with an impasse she found herself was a satisfying enough.


	11. Cards on the table

_9.31 am Monday, August 26, 2020_

Max took another look at his reflection in bathroom mirror trying to recall the last time he was dressed in a black suit. Probably some opera night with Kaylee or some dinner in restaurant, he couldn't really tell. Suddenly, he started thinking of the last time he came to his father just a few days before his death. How after years of him neglecting his children, they could finally talk normally, go out to a restaurant… Max clenched his fist realizing that his eyes were growing watery again. He took a deep breath.

"Max?" Kaylee's head popped out from behind corner and bunny watched her fiancé carefully. "Honey, are you alright?" She asked, even if she knew the answer.

"I … I keep thinking of what if. What if we went to a dinner a day earlier, or if I just decided to visit dad that evening, if I never moved out from the mansion… When dad was killed I was sitting in a bar drinking with friends. If I really cared about him, I would…"

"Don't," Kaylee stopped him. "Don't you dare to blame yourself for it. You didn't know. You couldn't have. On the smallest, most innocent suspicion, you'd rush straight to him."

"There was a blackout, Kaylee."

"Another blackout. Nothing before indicated…" Bunny took a deep breath and grabbed his paw. "I know it's hard to know that there existed a possibility and I know your relations never were easy, but… look into your heart, Max. You're a good wolf. You'd never allow any harm to your father. And certainly not… this," she said, her voice firm and confident as if she was stating the most obvious thing in the world.

"Still, I…" Max hesitated. He then sighed deeply, crouched by Kaylee and hugged her strongly. "I love you, you know?"

"Of course I do, goof. But hearing it is as good as always," she assured. "We should be going if we don't want to be late," she suggested after a moment.

"We certainly don't want to be late," the wolf nodded. He stood up lifting Kaylee, kissed her on the lips and let her jump down on the floor. He loved how she'd land gently on their wooden floor tensing muscles of her thighs for just a second, he loved the sensation of her fur slipping between his paws and the way she always giggled afterwards. And suddenly, a terrifying thought dashed through his mind; that he could lose her one day, just like he had lost his father. When he'd have expected it the least. Max shook his head clearing his mind and with fist clenched in determination, he gave himself a foolish, impossible promise; that he would never allow any harm to come to Kaylee.

* * *

 _10.27 am Monday, August 26, 2020_

The final earthly journey of Thomas Ezekiel Reynolds took them to Meadowlands Cemetery. The number of mammals that came to the funeral surprised even Max. Distant family members, friends, associates, city officials, even random citizens that didn't know his father or family personally… And those were only the mammals that came to the chapel. It was encouraging in its own, sorrowful way. Max and Kaylee passed through the crowd receiving condolences from all of those people and, avoiding mayor as Max did not feel like talking to him today, took the front seats in the Spice and her boyfriend.

"I was certain you were going to be late," muttered Anastasia bitterly.

"I'm sorry, traffic jam," Max apologized tersely and looked toward the altar, where in an opened coffin, lied his father. He suddenly felt chills. "We're not immortal, huh?"

"No, we're not," Kaylee agreed. She felt how this though kept recurring to him recently, sinking him lower and lower. As a child, Max had watched his mother wither over years and die. He lost his first crush on service and now, was deprived of father. And Max himself was burdened with an incurable genetic disease, just to remind him that his days were numbered. Usually, it gave him motivation to breathe deeply and live lightly, but these days, it only weighed him down. Kaylee found his paw and held it strongly.

"But I'm here with you," she promised and Max replied with a weak smile.

The funeral service began shortly afterwards but for the most of time, Kaylee didn't focus much on it; she'd rather look up to Max, help him feel that he was not alone in this. The one moment she remembered well wasn't even the short sermon, but the time when everyone could walk over to the coffin of Thomas Reynolds and bid him farewell for the last time. She and Max were second to come, right after his sobbing sister. Max didn't let a tear, though. He walked over, watched his father for a short moment and patted him on the shoulder.

"Bye, pops," he said quietly and then, put in his father's paw a piece of colorful, but charred fabric. Kaylee recognized it to be the remains of one of his mother's painting and she felt a sting in the heart. She thought of Thomas Reynolds bleeding out slowly, watching the paintings of his wife, his most valuable possession, slowly burning away. When she looked back at Max's face, she saw his face twitch as if he was on verge of crying, but he did not. He was too proud to show a tear in front of the public.

After ceremony in the chapel, Max closed the coffin, pallbearers lifted it and carried it leading the funeral conduct. Out of six of them, Kaylee knew only Max, the remaining ones were probably old Reynolds' friends from the school or the corporation. She also noticed mayor Ketchikan following them very closely, wiping tears of discretely with a handkerchief. Somewhere in the halfway, it started sipping and a minute later it was already pouring from the sky and everyone had opened their umbrellas. Soon, they reached their destination, the grave of Ilya Reynolds. The priest conducted the ritual and there came time for eulogies. Max was given the right of the first one, obviously. He stood by the rostrum, all soaked now but not caring about rain one bit and watched the crowd that surprised him with the numbers despite the rain. And everyone seemed so quiet, respectful. Expect for some of the journalists, but he half-expected that. Max hemmed and took a deep breath. One of pallbearers, an old elk, offered Max an umbrella, but he rejected it.

"Thank you, Mr. Thunders," he said quietly and turned to the people. "Mayor Ketchikan called me yesterday promising clear skies and not a drop of rain. You know, politicians," wolf raised his paw in the sky and chuckled nervously. The people reacted with weak smiles and silent giggles which made Max feel a bit more confident.

"I'd… First of all, I'd like to thank everyone that came here. Father would certainly…" Max swallowed hardly, on brink of crying, but he did not let a tear slip. "Some of you I know well, some only by sight, some I don't recognize at all, but I'd want to thank everyone gathered here equally for accompanying my father in his final journey. I am sure he would appreciate it," he thanked everyone and made a long pause, looking down at Kaylee. She smiled to him encouragingly.

"I guess this is the part when I'm supposed to speak of father's life and struggles in a couple of sentences, but on my way here, I realized that you all have probably heard it a thousand times by now on TV, radio, newspapers, from all the angles possible. So let me tell you about the single strongest memory I hold of my father instead," he said and, seeing that most seemed intrigued, he continued. "It was back in summer of 2005, in the middle of holidays fifteen years ago. My sister was at a camp with her friends, but I stayed in Zootopia with dad. That day, he was supposed to take me to Reynolds Industries; I loved it, but he rarely did so, always so busy with his adult stuff. I ate a breakfast half-expecting that he was already waiting for me… You know, he always started his day very early. Anyway, I looked around the mansion for dad, but instead of his office or bedroom, I found him in the gallery; it's that huge room where father held his beloved paintings of Jackson Haddock. He came there a lot, just to admire them," he said and his voice trembled a bit, recalling that it was this same room in which Thomas Reynolds was found dead, but he continued.

"But instead of just standing and enjoying the collection like he usually did, he was sitting on the floor in front of one of them, "Moonlight", with a glass and half-emptied bottle of whiskey by him. By the shabby, yesterday clothes I could tell he had spent whole night in there, just sitting and staring. I joined him. Whether he was so focused or tired, he didn't even notice until I asked him what he was doing and if he was feeling fine. He, still staring at the painting, just said: _"I'm reading. Give me a few minutes more"._ When I asked him what he meant, he just nodded at the picture and said nothing more. He didn't go to work that day and obviously didn't take me there either. Back then, I was angry with him for it and didn't understand him one bit. I just assumed it was one of those strange things adults do," Max interrupted, gave himself a moment to relive the memory.

"I didn't understand it and in fact, hardly remembered, for next decade and half. Then I accidentally learnt that this 'Haddock' who painted Moonlight was in fact my deceased mom. At that moment, I finally understood that that night it was mom that my father was trying to read through the paintings she left. I have no idea how many days and nights dad spent in that room, staring at her pictures. So often he just came there to watch them, dive back in the past. Thinking of all the 'maybes' and 'what ifs', reliving their best years. But in meanwhile, all his children could find were closed gallery doors. All dad had time for over the years were the company and the paintings," once again, Max made a pause to let his words sink in.

"Father loved us. He loved whole our family deeply and when he realized that both me and my sister were already grown-ups on our way to start families, he woke up from his coma. He opened up to us. We finally started spending time together, whole the family thing started working out and I must say, I was happy like never before. That, ladies and gentlemen, was nine months ago. Nine months that I secretly hoped to last forever. Or at least couple decades," Max clenched his fist and took a deep breath. If he cried, rain covered it easily. "There are a lot of lessons that we can learn from my father. Ones of courage, brilliance or features of a born leader. But the most important, to me at least, is a lesson of living. We lose friends and family and they deserve an honorable place in our hearts. But we should never ever forget that there is more to the life than the ones passed. There are the living. And they are here with us and they care for us and they love us. And even in the greatest pain, they will sooth our broken hearts… but only if we let them in," Max was now looking straight at Kaylee and with a weak, warm smile.

"Thus, if you want to celebrate memory of my father, I please you all; when you come back to your houses today and sit down to dinner with your families, take a moment to think of all the empty seats by your tables. For just a moment, look back to those gone and hold their pictures in your hearts. And then kiss your wives and husbands, hug your kids and parents, call your best friends. Tell them that you love them. Thank them that they're here with you. Find the time my father did and find it today, because… because you never know if they will be there tomorrow. Thank you," Max finished nearly choking on a tear and stepped back from the rostrum, handing the microphone back. Max Reynolds' words were respected with a moment of silence, as he walked back to his girlfriend.

"I was babbling, wasn't I?" Max whispered to her while the priest was handing the microphone to mayor who wanted to say a couple of words himself.

"Quite oppositely, Max. It was… touching," Kaylee assured. "Oh, and I'd forget. I love you," she added with a smile that made him suddenly feel a lot better.

* * *

 _11.12 am Monday, August 26, 2020_

Judy Hopps did come to the funeral like promised, although she never entered the chapel. She watched everything from under a tree in a safe distance, where her rabbit ears could still hear Max's words despite the rain. She really liked his speech. It was unusual, felt important and honest, like a testimony. The mammal that gave a speech after him turned out to be Thomas Reynolds' friend from high school times, mayor Ketchikan. And while Judy expected from him some mumbo-jumbo with political innuendo, she was pleasantly surprised to hear none of that; instead, he gave a rather interesting, thought through story of mayor and Thomas Reynolds from their youth. Focused on his speech, Judy barely heard someone approaching from her back.

"Funny, there were hardly any crowds at my father's funeral," said a soft male voice from behind. Judy turned around immediately to see that it belonged to a rather tall, slim red fox so similar by body build and way of walking to Nick that in a dark room, she could be confusing the two. He was dressed in a long dustcoat, in paw held an umbrella.

"I don't think we've met before, have we?" Judy asked staring in the brown eyes of the fox she had already recognized.

"Spencer Young. It is a relief to see you here, Detective Hopps," assured the fox, lowering his head respectfully before her. He seemed nervous.

"Did you know Thomas Reynolds, Mr. Young?" Judy asked.

"It's Spencer, really. And yes, I did, although not personally. People say he was a fine wolf, helped the city out a lot," he explained politely. There was something… disturbingly trustworthy in him, even more than in Nick the first time she saw him, as Judy realized. The sort of charm it's hard t put your paw on, even when you're already aware of it. "I was trying to find you for a couple of days now."

"Did you?"

"Mhm. I… I think I know who murdered Mr. Reynolds and is now trying to frame your partner, but I don't think I can trust ZPD with it," he explained. Judy's ears perked up suddenly, revealing that he had her attention fully.

"Do you?"

"Yes, yes I do. We probably should find a proper place to discuss it, though. Somewhere more discreet," he suggested, looking around nervously, probably fearing he was being followed. "If we could go to some safe place and discuss it…"

"I know a safe place," Judy assured, catching herself on blindly trusting Young for a second. They left the cemetery in silence and Judy caught a taxi. She chose the place; still unsure if she could trust Spencer Young, she'd never leave it to him.

They came to a small café and sat in its corner; high seats covered both of them from anyone effectively and they were far from any windows. Whoever could be following her or Spencer, would have hard time watching them.

"You said you know who killed Mr. Reynolds," Judy said watching him carefully, just after the waitress brought them their coffees. At first she considered asking about Lucas Wool, but something was telling her that they'd get to him later anyway. Fox smiled awkwardly and hesitated as wrapping his fingers around his coffee cup.

"I... I might have an idea. I've been struggling whether not to go to the police and just tell them, but I don't trust them anymore. They don't trust me. You maybe will," he explained himself.

"I appreciate it," Judy smiled to him encouragingly.

"Back in time of studies, I had a friend… not exactly a friend… I happened to know a sheep named Lucas Wool," Spencer looked up to Judy for a second as if checking her reaction and then, stared back down at his cup.

"Was he your rival?" Judy guessed as if she had heard the name for the first time. Did he buy that? Did he _have_ to buy that in the first place? She couldn't read him at all.

"Not a rival. A foe, if I could call anyone such. It started after Mauler's attack on me. After I left the hospital and returned to university, I fell at him at some empty corridor. He started mocking me, saying that fox like me deserved to have been mauled and killed. I nearly beat him up that time, but some friend of his intervened. After that, he started spreading gossips that I was involved with Mauler; either was him or was marking his victims for him. I responded, I must admit, with violence again; I threatened Lucas to stop it or next time, I'd really hurt him," Spencer explained resentfully.

"It certainly didn't help building your positive image," the bunny noticed.

"Sometimes there's no longer a point trying," replied the fox. "And Lucas wasn't worth it. But my ordeals with him don't matter too much, I guess. What I wanted to say is that one time a couple months ago, I saw Lucas talking to a wolf in some dark alley. That surprised me; Lucas was a known racist; he despised predators. I sneaked up on them and started eavesdropping. I didn't get much of the conversation, only caught wolf's name; Gerard, and heard them discussing about a picture of a sort and their troubles to sell it. I didn't think much of it back then, but cops came to me on the Friday to ask about the blackouts. They showed me the device that caused it hoping that I could help them. I guided them a bit and hopefully they'll find something, but then, I started thinking. I connected the picture Lucas spoke of with Mr. Reynolds' death and Mr. Jacob's escape and I think… I think Lucas could be behind this all," he said and took a deep breath. "I think he caused the blackouts, stole the picture murdering Mr. Reynolds, released Mr. Jacobs to make money out of it and… blamed the fox," he explained bitterly. His eyes were begging for her to believe him and she really wanted to. Wouldn't it make everything so simple?

"Do you think he was capable of arranging it?" Judy asked doubtfully, wondering how much he'd tell her. "The murder and Jacobs' escape?"

"He was an architecture student and I heard Mr. Jacobs escaped by a tunnel. And Lucas hates most predators. Killing Mr. Reynolds, framing your partner… he could do that," Spencer confirmed.

"Why didn't you go to ZPD with it?" Hopps wondered, even if she already knew the answer.

"No one would believe me anyway. I'm just a fox and ZPD seems certain Wilde did it," Spencer explained bitterly.

"It's hard to blame them. Evidence against Nick seems… heavy," Judy tried to justify them.

"Yeah, fox fur, his tranquilizer gun, even name tag in Reynolds' paw…" Spencer enumerated and paused, for a second quite sure that he saw a change at Judy's face, but it was gone as quickly as it came. And then, the fox hesitated and chuckled with amusement like he had not before.

"I slipped, didn't I?" He asked.

"Beg your pardon?" Judy pretended to not catch what he meant, but she knew Spencer wouldn't buy it. Yes, he slipped there. He told her about Nick's gun which the media didn't even know about. The fur, car or badge, yes, Sullivan told them that. But only police, Nick and the actual murderer knew of the gun. And since either of former weren't a thing…

"I slipped there. Don't pretend you didn't notice," Spencer demanded watching her carefully. So the cards were on the table; he was the murderer, she knew it and he realized that she did. And since he decided to open up the cards, it meant he controlled the situation.

"I noticed," Judy admitted. There was no point in lying now.

"Phone and carrot pen on table. Now," he demanded firmly. Judy hesitated for a moment. They were useless anyway, she only recorded his _"I slipped there"_. With no further context, it was of no value and he was never going to provide any more to her. Unless she gave him the recording devices which would leave her with no proof again, only further certainty of his guilt.

"So you killed Mr. Reynolds?" Judy asked, putting both her phone and carrot pen on the table. Spencer unlocked the phone and checked if it wasn't recording. Then he took the pen, paused it and erased all its content.

"Yes, I did," he admitted with no shame, but without pride either.

"Why?" Judy asked.

"Because Reynolds killed my father and Zootopia decided to not do a thing about it. When I lost him… nobody cared," explained Spencer bitterly. Judy could feel his pain and frustration clearly and she realized that as much as his actions were despicable, his motivations were somehow… understandable. Like a man that hadn't eaten proper meal for months robbing a store. Not something you approve, but something you pity.

"Is that why you're framing Nick? Or do you hold something against him?"

"I respect Detective Wilde and find him the arguably best fox that happened to this city," he explained and watched Judy's confusion with sort of satisfaction.

"Then why are you framing him? Why to slander him in front of whole city?"

"I only framed him. Zootopia did the rest for me," noticed Spencer and Judy hesitated about that one. He wasn't really wrong. Except for setting Nick up, Spencer had probably nothing to do with what town spoke of him nowadays.

"But why?" Judy sought to know.

"To send the message, show this city what it really stands for," Spencer explained.

"And what does it stand for?"

"I could tell you… or I could show you," the fox suggested. "I'll be waiting today at 8 pm in the bar "Arctos" in Tundratown. This is where everything started. There, I can show you what I mean," Spencer offered and smirked seeing her distrust. "Of course you might think it's a trap, but I have no intention of hurting you, Judy. You're a vital part of my plan and I need you alive and unharmed. I'll be waiting. The choice whether to come or not is yours," he offered and then, stood up from his seat. He reached for a wallet, left the money for his coffee on the table and smiled to her warmly.

"Until evening, Detective," he said and he wanted to pass by her but then, Judy grabbed his paw. Fox looked at her coldly, but didn't resist.

"You don't have to do it, Spencer," she told him holding him firmly and looking in the eyes. "You've been hurt. Reynolds ruined your family and no one reacted. But murdering mammals will get you nowhere. It will only sate the hunger for revenge temporarily leaving nothing in return. And when it fades, that's what you'll be left with; nothing. A mark of murderer and rest of life wasted in prison," Judy spoke, recognizing his struggle deep within. "You are not bad fox, Spencer, only hurt. You can still stop this madness, because you are better than this. I can see it in you," the bunny spoke and Spencer Young hung his head, as if considering his words. He then clenched his fist angrily.

"I… I could have been a hero, you know. If I was only given a chance," he muttered regretfully. His eyes were wet.

"You still can be," Judy promised, but he just chuckled bitterly and shook his head.

"No. Now I must be the villain and I shall play my part till the very end. Because otherwise, everything that was sacrificed this far would turn out pointless," he released himself from Judy's grip angrily. "Until evening, Detective Hopps."

"Until evening, Spencer," Judy replied sadly. As the door closed behind the fox, she took a deep breath. She had just spoken face to face with murderer of Thomas Reynolds. She looked him in the eyes and found them so trustworthy, she'd nearly missed the point where he slipped; accidentally or not. And yet, she saw the crack in him. She saw that deeply in his heart, there was still good in him. This confused her terribly. Could it really have been a lie? What were his intentions behind this meeting? Was he really going to tell her his real reasons, or was it all jut a bluff to have her kidnapped or killed, now that she knew the truth?

And then, as she wondered on all of it, the phone rang. Judy checked to see that it wasn't Kaylee and picked it up immediately. If not her, then it could be only one mammal.

"Nick?" She guessed.

 _"_ _It's me, calling from booth. I don't have much time. We need to meet at your place today at midnight, maybe a bit later. Just wait for me there tonight, I'll have some great news,"_ he said. It was so good to hear his voice, even if distorted by the phone.

"What's going on?" Judy asked.

 _"_ _I learnt from Duchess that wolf who attacked me in the mansion was Gerard Greymane. I was in his house and I'm sure he's also the Mauler from that old unsolved case, but I don't have heavy proof for any of it. Today at 8 pm he's going to meet with some S, most likely Scarlet Calveit of Spencer Young, at Millennium Tower construction site. I believe I might record there something about Reynolds, a confession of sort,"_ Nick explained quickly and Judy froze in place for a moment. Those were some great revelations. But she probably was going to beat him in this department anyway.

"And I just talked with Spencer Young and I know for sure that he is the murderer," Judy replied and for a moment, Nick replied nothing.

 _"_ _One hundred percent?"_ He only asked.

"He mentioned details of crime scene that aren't known to the public and when he realized his mistake, he admitted the thing openly. He made sure I wasn't recording beforehand, obviously," Judy explained.

 _"_ _Shame, but it's a huge thing nonetheless,"_ Nick admitted. _"And it fits what I found at Greymane's house. Even better reason for me to go to his meeting."_

"And he claims he's not doing this all for money, but a message."

 _"_ _Do you believe it?"_

"I think I do. And I think he's breaking," Judy said. "He invited me for today to "Arctos" to explain everything to me," she added.

 _"_ _Now that sounds sketchy as heck,"_ noticed Nick.

"I know, but…"

 _"_ _Don't even think about it,"_ the fox interrupted her firmly, realizing what she wanted to suggest. _"It's a trap."_

"He's breaking, Nick. I can see it. If could get a chance to talk to him once again…"

 _"_ _He's going to either kidnap or kill you,"_ the fox protested firmly and Judy took a deep breath. She knew he was right and she should be never going to this meeting, but still…

"I can help him. I can stop this all before anyone gets hurt," she insisted.

 _"_ _Judy, I beg you. Do not go there,"_ he pleaded using her real name as rarely. She heard clearly how scared about her he was. It wasn't that he didn't believe she could change him. It was that she'd be probably be walking into fox's den and Young wouldn't be alone there. And even if she could change him, she had no guarantee that she'd make it out alive.

"You're right. I'm not going there," she promised and heard a quiet sigh of relief. "But while he will be waiting for me, I could try and break into his house, search for anything condemning him," suggested the bunny. "Unless you want me at the Millennium Tower, that is," Judy added, but she already knew his answer.

 _"_ _No, I can do it alone. You'd better check his house, we might not have another opportunity,"_ the fox assured as expected.

"If you're saying that just because it'll be dangerous in Millennium Tower too…"

 _"_ _Judy, please,"_ he interrupted her firmly. _"We both know you can handle yourself."_

"Well, I do for sure," she muttered unconvinced. She knew how protective Nick could be about her sometimes.

 _"_ _And if things go wrong, I'll need someone I can trust my life with that won't have been compromised as well. And besides, the proof from Spencer's house could appear crucial for case's development,_ " he argued, probably having this argument long prepared. _"I know you worry about me and I appreciate it, but I can look after myself too,"_ he added and Judy smiled. Nick could be overprotective about her, but in no smaller degree than she was about him.

"If you were compromised there, we could kick their tails together," Judy argued half-jokingly, even if she was already sold on Nick's idea.

 _"_ _Uh huh, sure. Rather have our tails kicked together, Carrots. Or run with our tails between legs together. Greymane doesn't leave other options,"_ Nick replied laughing. _"Go to Spencer's house, find out what you can. I'll be at Millennium Tower and record them if possible. Afterwards we meet at Cider Street and put together what we have. We can deliver it then to Chief Bogo anonymously and when they'll be certain of my innocence, I can turn myself in,"_ fox suggested.

"What about Sullivan?" Judy worried.

 _"_ _With enough proof, even he will have to give up on framing me. We'll deal with him eventually."_ assured Nick. _"Alright, I've got to go. Take care, Carrots."_

"Nick, wait. Please, be careful," Judy pleased.

 _"_ _Hey, you know me."_

"That's why I'm asking you, dumb fox," Judy reminded him and giggled.

 _"_ _I will, I promise. Today at midnight, your place. I hope you have a comfy bed, sleeping under a bridge is killing me,"_ he added, most certainly smirking.

"Hey, you could have switched it for a comfy cell any other day," she teased him. "Today at midnight, Nick. Not a minute later."

 _"_ _Of course. Good luck, Carrots."_

"Good luck, Slick," she said and let him hang up. Judy felt chills. So that was it. All the pieces were falling in their places. This evening, they were going to find the evidence against Spencer Young and his associates. And then, they were going to bring them to justice.

* * *

 _12.46. pm Monday, August 26, 2020_

The meeting with Hopps was Spencer's initiative. He wanted to meet her and check how much she knew or suspected. But then, he slipped and she read him like an opened book. And then she told him the things that had been echoing in the back of his head since they killed Lucas and Reynolds.

"Cursed Hopps. She knew exactly what to say," he muttered. Spencer Young was breaking. The initial excitement of murders had already withered and fox the afterthoughts were beginning to haunt him. But he had to be strong. It was just couple days more. He waited to regain normal heartbeat and breath and then, called his girlfriend.

 _"_ _How did it go?"_ Scarlet asked.

"I slipped, had to play the open cards," the fox admitted emotionlessly.

 _"_ _Moron. Did she record you?"_

"No," refused Spencer firmly. "I invited her to Arctos for tonight, though."

 _"_ _Did she buy it?"_ Wondered Scarlet.

"Maybe, doesn't matter. She believed the offer and whether she trusted me or not, she'll have places to go tonight. Wilde will be at the Millennium Tower alone," assured Spencer.

 _"_ _So we go along with the plan?"_ Scarlet guessed.

"Yes, take Gerard to the Millennium Tower. Wilde has to appear there if he wants his proof and he will come there alone. Just remember to call our cop late enough, so he arrives just at the nick of time," Spencer ordered her.

 _"_ _And if Hopps comes too?"_

"She won't. She'll be either in Arctos or, if she saw through me, searching my house. It's the only chance she has. Doesn't matter, we have her exactly where we want to. And while she'll be busy there, you take care of the fox…"

 _"_ _And you find the rabbit. Just in case,"_ Scarlet finished for him.

"Precisely. Call me after you're done there and if I need to go for her. I might not even have a chance to grab her, you know."

 _"_ _I know, I know,"_ assured the pronghorn dismissively. _"We're almost there… I've never thought I'd live to see the day,"_ Scarlet said dreamily.

"But hey, we did it. I love you, Scarlet," Spencer assured.

 _"_ _So do I, darling,"_ replied Scarlet. _"Oh, before I go… Mr. Jacobs wanted to see you."_

"Did he now? OK, I'll go there. Has he done anything suspicious on the Web?" Wondered the fox.

 _"_ _Mostly searched for the buyer on the Deep Web and dug around on the subject of yours and Greymane's. Nothing very suspicious. He didn't call anyone,"_ Scarlet informed him. The old raccoon didn't know that both his and Joshua's phones and computers were rigged to inform Spencer and Scarlet of everything they were doing.

"Deep Web? I should have thought so," Spencer admitted. After all, where to look for a buyer to a stolen painting, if not in the part of Internet that was completely out of any government's control? He just didn't think that someone as old as Jacobs would even know about it.

 _"_ _Go and talk with him,"_ Scarlet instructed him.

"Got it. Love you," the fox said and his girlfriend assured so too and hung up on him. Spencer drove back to their hideout in Rainforest District, on his way there checking all of Donovan Jacobs Internet activity from his laptop and he really liked what he saw there.

In the hideout, it was quiet as usual, with only Donovan Jacobs and Joshua Morrows in there. Spencer met the two of them in the dining room eating lunch; a pizza from freezer they had just heated up.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked, sitting by table and stealing a slice.

"But of course, Spencer," the raccoon assured, pouring him some of the juice. "I couldn't have reached you for whole morning. It seems your phone was off."

"I was very busy. Did something happen?" He worried.

"Oh, yes. I've found the buyer for the Moonlight. We agreed on price of one-hundred million dollars and an exchange on Wednesday evening. Like you demanded, the exchange should be performed only in your presence and the money will be transferred to everyone's foreign account in proportions established," the old raccoon promised and Spencer watched him carefully.

"Good," he believed it without a proof only because he had been monitoring Donovan's online activity for whole this time, but he allowed the raccoon to blame it on fox's naivety.

"I could show you the screenshots…"

"No, no, it's OK. The less I know, it's better for you and I trust you, Mr. Jacobs," assured Spencer respectfully, wondering when they would try to backstab him, if not during the trade. Afterwards? How? Or did they really want to just get out of whole this situation as quietly as possible?

"You're too trusting, Mr. Young," complimented him the old raccoon.

"I know that you wouldn't betray me, Mr. Jacobs," assured Spencer Young and just from the raccoon's chuckle he read that he would indeed. So he meant to do it after the trade. But how?

"It's good to be finally working with someone you could trust," Donovan assured and for a moment, he, Spencer and Joshua ate in silence until finally, the raccoon spoke again.

"Is it true that Mauler attacked you, back in the days of his rampage?"

"Yes, it is," confirmed the fox.

"Was it no fake?"

"No, it wasn't."

"Then how did you fend him off?" He wondered and Spencer realized immediately what Jacobs was trying to figure out. Greymane was the one thing that was protecting Spencer for the time. Donovan probably knew that he couldn't talk him to help him… or he didn't know what arguments he should be using, if he wanted to.

"By luck and fierceness. When he cornered me, something snapped in me. I charged at him furiously and somehow, managed to stand my ground," he explained. "I guess he'll never admit it… but it's probably why he even agreed to work for me. I gained his respect back there," the fox lied.

"Oh, of course," Donovan failed to hide that it troubled him, which could mean only one thing; he believed Spencer. "He does not care about money, does he?"

"He's probably the only one here," Spencer joked. So now Donovan had every reason to believe that he couldn't bribe or talk Greymanne to his side. How could he possibly deal with the wolf now? Certainly not by force. Even police tranquilizer would be useless against this monster.

"I guess he won't complain when he gets his part of the deal," Donovan smiled too.

"Not one bit. He can go off and rampage wherever he wants…" Spencer shrugged and saw a spark in Joshua's eyes. Of course, they'd wait until Greymane goes his own way. They'd kidnap both him and Scarlet and torture them until they transfer Donovan all their money. Then, they'd kill them and have in total seventy five millions for themselves, allowing only Greymane to get away with his share. It was simple as that.

"…and we all will go our own ways," Spencer finished lying yet again. It was at this moment that he set his mind. If they get as far as to the trade, he'd need to have Greymane kill Morrows and Jacobs immediately after they get the money. Otherwise, Jacobs would not miss his chance to kill Spencer and Scarlet and steal their shares. It complicated Spencer's plans severely, but didn't contradict them. It even matched the big picture. He could do it all.

"I'm looking forward to it. I'm really fed up with this city," stated Donovan Jacobs.

"No wonder, sir, you kept watching it from the wrong side of the bars," pointed out Joshua half-jokingly.

"So am I, Mr. Jacobs. So am I," assured Spencer and for the next half an hour, the three of them continued to chit-chat, none of them speaking anything important. All those empty words didn't mean anything at all; both Jacobs and Young had their plans already crafted. Only the fox was destined to win, for he knew all of Jacobs' cards before the final deal even started.

* * *

 _3.25 pm Monday, August 26, 2020_

After the visit to Donovan Jacobs, Spencer Young was again on his way. He couldn't return to his house anymore, as Hopps could have ratted him to the police, but he had no need to go there anyway. Instead, he drove to Tundratown. When he made sure no one was following him, he entered a small flat somewhere in a dark alley. At first sight, the place looked like just another empty house that Spencer rented for a reasonable price in secret from everyone, but it held its dark secret. At one of kitchen shelves waited a camera with tripod which he grabbed now and took stairs to the basement. He used a key to open the heavy metal door carefully and stepped inside; the obscure room was nearly empty, except for a bed and a TV in front of it. On the bed, with paws cuffed together and leg tied to bed, sat a red panda in elegant, but messed up black jacket and jeans; she was a reporter from Sahara Square local news, Megan Roth. The moment Spencer stepped in Roth stopped watching TV and stared at the fox fearfully.

"You again," she whispered.

"Don't worry, Miss Roth, I will cause you no harm," Spencer promised, sitting on a chair in safe distance. He looked at the food and water she still had. "I hope nights aren't too cold?"

"It's… it's fine," she muttered. "Did you come to release me?" She asked.

"Not just yet, Miss Roth," he refused politely.

"Then what do you want with me?" The red panda said carefully, as if fearing the answer. Her eyes kept wandering between him and the camera he brought.

"To fill your purpose here. We're going to record an interview," he explained.

"And then you're going to release me?" She asked hopefully; it was the one thing she cared about now.

"No, police will find you after everything is done. In a week, maybe two. You should have enough food and water until then," fox refused and saw despair growing in her eyes.

"You're insane," she whispered with horror and he only chuckled.

"Maybe I am, but without you, all of the sacrifices made would be in vain. Here's a list of topics I'd want you to touch in the interview and some materials. You have half an hour to prepare for the interview," Spencer threw her a small notebook with a pen and settled in his seat. "And I'd suggest you do it like your life depended on it. Who knows, maybe you'll have a Pulitzer out of it?"


	12. High stakes roulette

_7.31 pm. Monday, August 26, 2020_

A rabbit wandering streets of Happytown always raises attention. That was why Judy Hopps dashed through the district hurriedly heading to house of Spencer Young. Dressed in a grey hoodie hiding her long ears and your average jeans with a small black backpack on one of her shoulders, she walked fox's house around. With all lights off and no one around, she walked over to the door and picked the lock. It took her surprisingly fast; she had been practicing with her flat's door whole afternoon. Already inside, Judy turned the lights on and locked the door behind her. Flashlight seen through a window could look suspicious.

"Like a common burglar," she muttered to herself, looking around the place. It seemed just renovated, but on the closer look Judy noticed that Young did it cheaply, as if trying to save money. She checked the dining room, kitchen and bathroom finding nothing interesting and found her way to Young's office shared with a bedroom. There stood a single bed with a nightstand next to it and two shelves of Spanish textbooks above and smirked.

"Hablas tu espanol, Carrots?" She asked herself. "No, no, por que?" She continued inner dialogue grabbing one of the books. "Because Spencer's Young learning it quite intensively. So I guess we know where he'll try to flee after he's done here," she replied her own question leafing through filled textbook with a dozen more above her head. She put it back and searched contains of the nightstand drawer, but found no clues there either. She then checked Spencer's desk; one drawer was filled with lots of small boxes containing electronic components, in the other she found tools and some plastic bottles. In a cupboard next to it Judy saw what she was looking for; documents. She started leafing through them and the first thing that raised her attention was mortgage agreement for over hundred thousand dollars for "thorough renovation of house". Spencer Young had signed it almost a year ago and had already started paying first installments.

"So that's how you funded everything; Donovan's escape, ZPD bribe…" Judy realized and continued to search the box, but found nothing more. It wasn't enough; while it confirmed his capability to commit his crimes, it served as no proof. Judy didn't need the agreement as knowing of the mortgage she could just bring it out any moment and it would be easily verified, so she left it where she found it and continued to look around the house.

When she came to the living room, what raised Judy's attention were not the books on shelves or a big TV, but the scratches on the floor leading to the couch. They clearly indicated that someone had been moving it around, probably more than once. Judy tried to pull it, but the furniture appeared too heavy for a rabbit. Instead, she jumped between it and wall, leaned against the couch with her back while bracing feet against the wall. She pushed and the coach moved suddenly with a screech. Judy saw just what she counted on; a hidden cache under the floor, fitting so well it that it was hardly visible at first. Judy opened it carefully and saw a black briefcase with engraved insignia; T. E. R.

"Thomas Ezekiel Reynolds," whispered Judy excitedly and brought it out; it was heavier than she expected, but it seemed like its combination locks had been melted. Judy opened it and saw about three hundred loose pages of some documents. On top of them lied a file that reminded her of a police report, but looked awfully long. Judy grabbed it.

"The Manifesto: Truth behind Reynolds and Thunders" Judy read and felt chill through her spine. It was not quite what she expected, but she hit a jackpot nonetheless. The bunny started reading the report.

Unsurprisingly, it started with summary of circumstances of death of Jonathan Wilde, Nick's dad. According to the report, it was caused by Thomas Reynolds' reckless driving, but whitewashed with his and his father's influence in the ZPD and courts, resulting in proving Thomas innocent. The report then described minor protests that occurred at construction sites led by local building companies, but funded by Gregory Reynolds, his son Thomas and their close friend Frederick Thunders. The media spoke of those exaggerating them greatly; what really was a single day of no one appearing in job and couple marches, they viewed as massive protests throughout the district with need of brutal police intervention. In tone of most news stations, Reynolds family was the victims and as such, they were forced to cancel their investments in Happytown. Doing so, they refrained from paying local companies for their work and investments, which led most of them to bankruptcy.

Next, report off-tracked, providing proof that Frederick Thunders and Reynolds family funded and actively supported a Happytown gang named Wolf Pack, covering their crimes. It then returned to Happytown and described how Thomas Reynolds, Gregory Reynolds and Fredrick Thunders started buying companies broke with their cancellation of investments by dirty cheap prices; were anyone to oppose, Wolf Pack would threaten them or even kill and feign suicide like in case of two small entrepreneurs the author described shortly. He also described the process of losing company with his own, Zachary Young's example.

For a moment, Judy felt chills. It wasn't Spencer that wrote all of it, but his father. It must have had at least… fifteen, sixteen years? If Zachary Young knew all of it, why didn't he publish it all and bring Reynolds and Thunders to justice? Was he killed before he could, like those two company owners he mentioned before? Judy dropped the insinuations and continued.

Shutting down over dozen building companies resulted in a recession of Happytown and negative press enforced by millionaires put a stigma on the predator district. With this conclusion, Zachary Young continued enumerating the proof he had gathered to confirm his version of events. And then, both pen and writing style changed rapidly. It looked more fresh and Judy felt creeps as she realized why: it was written very recently and long after Zachary's death. Spencer continued his father's legacy and finished the Manifesto.

Spencer started with the circumstances of his father's death in 2005, the publically known ones and not only. Although Young himself clearly didn't know everything, he pointed out so many proofs that his father was murdered by the Wolf Pack remnants, Terence Okami and Jake Rockfield, referencing his documents heavily so, that it was hard to argue with the fact. According to Spencer, it was orchestrated by Thunders and Reynolds when Zachary Young slipped and they learnt he might have some evidence against the two. Some of Young's documents were lost in process, as well as the original Manifesto.

Afterwards, Spencer jumped couple years in the past to describe one last action of the Wolf Pack that led to its downfall. Five of its members murdered Michael Tompkins, owner of "Diamond" nightclub and raped and mutilated his wife Jennifer Tompkins in 2002 to deal with growing competition. Thunders and Thomas Reynolds covered everything once again paying off the right cops.

The report continued with statement that there was lack of proof of connection of Maximilian and Anastasia Reynolds or current mayor Ketchikan, friend to Reynolds family, to those crimes; it seemed to be just a case between the four of them; Gregory Reynolds, his son Thomas Reynolds, his friend Frederick Reynolds and nowadays non-existent Wolf Pack gang. Afterwards it proceeded to other suspicious businesses of the four with detailed explanations that bunny didn't even have time to read, but she noticed couple interesting names surfacing in rather negative contest: mayor Lionheart, Chief Blizzard and Detective James Sullivan to name a few.

Judy put the report aside and took a deep breath. Could it be true? She knew Thomas Reynolds wasn't exactly a saint like media were trying to picture him these days, but to think that he'd intentionally lead to recession in Happytown, that he'd order murders to make even more money at cost of other predators losing their life achievements… For such a person to be believed to be a hero of Zootopia these days… It was just... disgusting. Judy could hardly believe all those accusations, but then, she realized what lied under the Manifesto. Those were private files of Thomas Reynolds and Frederick Thunders, numerous witness confessions and all plenty other documents. Over three hundred pages, neatly labeled and put in order confirming every single word of the report. Judy started leafing through them, but she quickly realized that trying to deny those was most likely pointless; the couple she saw seemed authentic and the number was simply overwhelming. Judy had no choice but to believe what she had just read, at least for the time.

"What now?" She asked herself. She had to get out of there; Spencer Young could return any moment and it would lead to some nasty confrontation. Judy considered grabbing the briefcase, but then, an idea came to her mind; the briefcase itself and some of its interior belonged to Thomas Reynolds. If ZPD were to find it here, it'd lead them to believing Spencer was connected to the case and thus proving Nick's innocence. She could just leave it here, call someone trusted from ZPD and let them find it here. If she did so immediately, they weren't losing the proof of Reynolds and Thunders atrocities and would be one step closer to proving Nick's innocence.

While hiding the files back in the briefcase and covering signs of her presence in the house, Judy felt stings of remorse; what would become of Max once the news of his grandfather and father's actions were published? Even if report emphasized his innocence, he was going to meet some heavy social backlash and… No. His father murdered people. Frederick Thunders, that guy Judy saw in TV just two days ago, ordered to ruin and murder people. Judy was going to give her best to make sure Max wouldn't face lynch, but she was not going to cover any criminal, was the decision that she made while heading to the front door.

And then, someone kicked the front door down.

* * *

 _8.15 pm. Monday, August 26, 2020_

Terence Okami and Jake Rockfield watched Hopps entering Young's house from their car. For last few days they had no much luck following her, as it hadn't brought them one step closer to their boss's lost briefcase, but this time it seemed like they were lucky.

"You really think Spencer Young has it?" Asked Jake hopefully.

"Hopps met him earlier today. She is now breaking into his house. She wouldn't have done it without a reason," agreed Terence. "Young is a fox and has a motive. Could be the one holding the briefcase."

"Are we going in?" Suggested Jake.

"Let her find it and take it wherever she means to. Then we take it."

"Say, Terry, what we're gonna do… when we have it?" Wondered the coyote.

"Return it to the boss, of course."

"Mr. Fancy Suit cares enough about that briefcase that he agreed to killing Hopps and Wilde. He surely cares more than he pays us for it," pointed out Jake, grinning insolently.

"What do you… We're not blackmailing him," Terence refused firmly.

"I don't say we blackmail him. I say we raise our salaries. A bit. Like… twice. What is it to a millionaire like him?" Jake Rockfield shrugged, but his partner just huffed angrily.

"You're an idiot."

"We give him the briefcase and then we ask. And we're not looking inside the briefcase when we get it," promised the coyote. Okami hesitated and then shrugged.

"But I do the talking," agreed Terence finally and checked time on his phone.

"She's taking her time there," noticed Jake impatiently.

"Not even half an hour. She must be trying to find the briefcase or whatever she's looking for," dismissed it Terence without a second thought.

"And what if she found it already and is reading it now?"

"We're killing her, remember?" Reminded him Terence.

"And if she's just taking photos and sending them to Wilde right now?"

"You just wanna go in, don't you?" Realized the wolf.

"I say we break in, grab the bunny and beat everything she knows out of her. It's Happytown, no one will care if she screams. No one did when Duchess screamed," smirked Jake maliciously. His partner hesitated and then, he grabbed a baseball bat from the back seat.

"I guess," agreed Terence leaving the car. Jake giggled with excitement. "I kick down the door, you enter. Aim for legs, we want her alive."

"Got it," Jake assured, checking if he had all the throwing knives. Two canines walked over to Spencer Young's front door. Terence tried first to open it, but as expected, it was locked. "Go for it," encouraged him Jake and Terence Okami kicked down the door.

* * *

 _8.17 pm. Monday, August 26, 2020_

Judy froze just for just a second, as she stared at the wolf and the coyote breaking into the house. And then, the coyote threw a knife. He aimed low, at her thighs, so Judy just jumped above it. She bounced off one wall and then the other, falling back to the living room with another throwing knife cutting air just above her. Judy's first thought was to flee through the window. But then she realized she couldn't afford to lose the briefcase and there existed a chance that these two, whoever they were, knew of it and would look for it. Judy hid behind the corner of door with pepper spray in her paw, cursing that she hadn't tranquilizer with her.

"Come on, Hippity-Hoppy, we won't hurt you!" Promised the coyote, as stepping into the living room.

"Uh-huh," Judy sprayed him right into the eyes and hit him in the guts. The coyote whined dropping the knife and Judy passed right between his legs back to the corridor, only to be nearly crashed with a powerful slam of wolf's baseball bat. She jumped back avoiding a horizontal swing and tried to spray him as well, but he covered his eyes with arm. Probably realizing how useless a baseball bat was in thigh corridor, he dropped it and lunged toward her with claws and jaws like a savage beast. Judy rolled under him avoiding his paws and bounced off a wall back into the dining room. The coyote was already waiting for her there, quite confused but still willing to fight. He tried to slash Judy up with talons, but she rolled over a low coffee table, grabbed the tablecloth and threw it into his face. It covered his vision for a second and he threw a knife blindly in reply, but blade merely touched Judy's side. As the coyote grabbed and threw the cloth away, from behind it appeared the bunny, kicking him straight in the chin and knocking him out. Coyote dropped unconscious right at the doorstep. His partner tried to walk over him to Judy, but then, out of sudden, in the corridor there appeared a fox. Whoever he was, he slammed the wolf straight in his snout with power of a train. It was a nasty blow, Judy could actually hear the bones breaking. Wolf fell to the corridor floor beyond Judy's sight, quite surely unconscious, and the fox kicked the dizzy coyote in head just to be sure. He watched Judy carefully, seemingly with no intent to fight her.

"Detective Judy Hopps, I assume?" He asked.

"Yes, it is. And your name would be…?" She asked carefully. As friendly as he sounded, she didn't trust a guy with such a punch appearing out of nowhere.

"Lionel O'Dyna, the right paw of Lady Jennifer Tompkins, the Duchess," he introduced himself, gaining some of Judy's trust; Nick had been to Duchess yesterday and if she helped him, then it probably meant Judy could trust her people as well. Especially since O'Dyna did help her in fight. Enemy of your enemy and so on.

"It is pleasure to meet you," assured the fox stepping over unconscious coyote carefully and offering a paw. Judy was about to shake it and then, she saw that hers was slightly stained with blood.

"Looks like he got you," Lionel glanced at her side and Judy saw that right side of her hoodie was shredded and slowly turning red. It must have been that knife the coyote threw.

"Just a scratch," assured Judy, as she took off her hoodie to estimate the wound. It was bleeding a bit, but didn't look serious at all. Lionel walked to the bathroom, grabbed a first-aid kit and threw it to her.

"Take care of it. I'll zip tie these two in meanwhile," he told her and Judy agreed. It looked like they were temporary allies for whatever reason. She sat on the floor, tucked shirt up and bandaged her wound while Lionel disarmed and tied the two canines with zip ties. In meanwhile, some weasel, apparently fox's partner, came over and started discussing with him. They seemed to know the two thugs, their names being Terence Okami and Jake Rockfield; Judy remembered they were mentioned as part of the Wolf Pack back in the report, probably its only two living members, in fact. After short discussion with his companion, Lionel O'Dyna went to call the Duchess while weasel stayed with the thugs and Judy.

"Can you explain to me what is going on?" The bunny demanded.

"Nothing, really. Just Duchess business," he shrugged not telling her anything at all.

"And what are going to do with these two?" Judy pointed at the thugs lying in the corridor, but weasel just shrugged.

"Whatever Duchess decides. She has some dealings with those punks," the weasel explained, staring at the two with scorn and Judy gained certainty; they were the ones that had assaulted Duchess and killed her husband back in 2002.

"You'd better go back home, Hopps," suggested the weasel after a moment. "It's Duchess's business now."

"I'll stay. I need to speak with her," Judy demanded.

"I think you didn't understand. You'd better…"

"If Hopps wants, she stays. The Duchess will be glad to see her," interrupted him Lionel O'Dyna. The weasel rolled his eyes with annoyance, but didn't argue.

Judy sat on the coach and started thinking of what had just happened. Pieces were slowly falling into their places; these two thugs were Wolf Pack remnants most likely working under Thunders these days. The millionaire must have learnt of the briefcase missing and sent these two after it. Somehow, they caught Judy's trail and she had unintentionally guided them straight to it. And then, Duchess's men, for some reason watching Spencer Young's house, intervened. What was going to happen next? That apparently depended on the Duchess.

* * *

 _8.42 pm. Monday, August 26, 2020_

The mobster arrived within twenty minutes. Both her men greeted her bowing respectfully as she entered Young's house. Duchess watched the two thugs for a moment and snarled hatefully. She then came into the living room where Judy waited. Her white fur, slim, rather tall silhouette, wedding ring on her left paw and an awful scar covering one of her eyes, all of that matched Judy's memories of the gangster, but she was quite a different mammal now. This time she wasn't wearing mask of no emotions. And as calculated as she seemed, she was in quite murderous mood.

"I guessed you'd have stayed. Good evening, Detective Hopps. Let's go and talk outside, shall we?" Suggested the mobster.

"Of course," Judy agreed, not really in position to argue. The two of them walked outside. They sat at the stairs just in front of the demolished front door and Duchess reached for a cigarette. She offered one to Judy, but bunny rejected it immediately.

"I know, nasty habit. Kids made me quit, but sometimes… sometimes you just have to," she explained, lighting her one up. "Do you know why these two were following you, Hopps?" Asked the Duchess.

"Not a clue," lied Judy. She figured it was about the briefcase, but she couldn't tell her that. "I heard their names. They're Wolf Pack members, aren't they?" Judy asked.

"What's left of Wolf Pack. Apparently, they are," confirmed the Duchess with disgust.

"They're the ones that… hurt you?" The bunny asked carefully.

"Yes, they're the ones," confirmed the wolf bitterly and dragged on the cigarette slowly to exhale a cloud of grey smoke. She really was in sepulchral mood.

"You're not willing to let ZPD arrest them, are you?" Bunny guessed.

"Oh, under what charges?" Snorted the Duchess resentfully.

"B&E and assaulting an officer for a start. Then we could connect them to what had happened to you. They'd rot in prison, Duchess. That's their place," promised Judy, but the wolf just laughed.

"I want them to rot ten feet underground and preferably look to it personally," Lady Tompkins refused firmly. "I want my revenge, Hopps, not justice."

"I understand, Duchess, and…"

"You don't. By claiming you understand me, you insult me," Lady Tompkins interrupted her almost threateningly and she had a point. Judy had never been through the horrors Duchess had endured.

"I've never experienced comparable suffering, but I watched people do and then, exact their revenge. All that's left of you in the end is vanity, Lady Tompkins," Judy argued and the mobster hesitated, even if only for a moment.

"I will have to remove you forcibly if I intend to kill them, won't I?" Duchess guessed.

"I'm afraid so," Judy nodded.

"Why?" The mobster snarled.

"Because it's my duty. As an officer and not only. They committed atrocities and deserve punishment. But it is not you that should deliver it, but the court," told her the bunny.

"They don't deserve to live, Hopps, and I don't think you can beg me enough to change my mind. And don't forget that we are talking about it now only because I wanted to make it clear to you," refused Duchess. Judy clenched her fist in helpless anger. She was right. Duchess wanted them dead. She wanted to watch them die just like she had to watch them killing her husband. Lady Tompkins wasn't going to change her mind about it and no Judy's words would persuade her, but bunny couldn't just let her kill those mammals. And then, an idea came to Judy's mind. It was ridiculous, risky and could have dire consequences, but it was her only option, if she was going to ever to be able to sleep peacefully at night.

"I cannot beg, but can I bargain for their lives?" Judy offered. Duchess watched her carefully.

"You can try, but I can't even name my price here, Hopps," the mobster dismissed the idea and took another deep breath of cigarette smoke.

"I can tell you who stood behind the Wolf Pack. Who covered the attack on you and helped them…" suggested Judy carefully.

"Frederick Thunders and Thomas Reynolds. I know that much and just the knowledge with no proof is worthless to me," stated the mobster.

"And if I had solid proof of their connections starting at the Happytown recession to the time you wiped them out?" Asked Judy and Duchess watched her carefully with a spark in her eyes. That was it; the price she never even thought of.

"You're bluffing. You'd never give it away to me."

"If I give it to you, will you allow ZPD to take care of these two?" The bunny wanted to know.

"I have to see it first," demanded the mobster.

"When I show it to you, will you?" Judy demanded. She needed to have her word.

"If your proof is satisfying, I promise I'll leave these two to you. Where is it?" Jennifer Tompkins asked.

"Let's go back inside," Judy suggested and they walked back to the living room. She then pushed the couch away and shown the Duchess the hidden cache she had found. Lady Tompkins chuckled.

"Hopps, you just sold me something you didn't even have!" She noticed, sounding rather impressed. "But I gave my word. Let's see what you have there." She crouched by the cache, opened it and brought the black briefcase out. Her sight stopped for a second at the promising engraving and then, she opened the briefcase. Duchess started reading the report, checking the proof attached once in a while and nodding with satisfaction. It took her about ten minutes to estimate value of the documents gathered there. She put the report back in the briefcase and closed it watching Hopps carefully.

"Is it enough?" Bunny asked.

"More than enough. I'll respect our deal," promised Duchess and then she paused, as a thought came to her mind. "This briefcase is just as priceless to me as it is to you, isn't it? Being found here by ZPD, it would indicate Spencer Young was involved in the murder. It's probably your only solid proof of his guilt," she pointed out suspiciously.

"Yes, it is," admitted Judy reluctantly.

"Then why give it to me over life of these two scumbags?" Lady Tompkins wondered.

"Because I serve and protect all the citizens, not just my friends," Judy explained and for a second, she expected the mobster to laugh in her face, but she just smiled instead.

"Following idealistic pleas of your police force with actual actions? Hopps, you have just earned my respect," admitted the Duchess and she looked back at the briefcase. "Tell you what, I don't need the briefcase itself, only its content. I will leave it here with couple meaningless documents, so ZPD has no doubts who it originally belonged to and everybody wins," suggested the Duchess. Judy smiled with relief.

"Thank you."

"I believe good deeds should be rewarded, not punished," dismissed it the wolf. "Now, it's time for us. Make sure these two rot in prison," she demanded, while grabbing most of the documents from the briefcase.

"I will, Duchess," assured Judy. "Just one question more. Your men watched Young's house. Are you looking for him? Why? Are you interested in the painting? I thought that your business revolves around Happytown and your nightclubs," the bunny pointed out and the mobster smirked in reply.

"I've been watching TV a lot since Reynolds was murdered. Have you, Hopps?"

"A bit. I didn't have much time," bunny replied carefully.

"But you probably sensed the turmoil; some big political powers are on the move," told her the Duchess.

"Mayor Ketchikan's unusually active," admitted Judy.

"Because he feels endangered. Reynolds' murder threw everything off balance. Ketchikan appears on the news left and right. Frederick Thunders is making a martyr out of his friend Reynolds with silent support of mayoral office. Except for having recklessly admitted Wilde's fault, ZPD is trying desperately to stay out of the whole thing, as if already foreseeing the upcoming social backlash when they screw that case up. And we all know they will, one way or another. Wilde was given a stigma of a fallen hero and is now on the run. Spencer Young is somewhere out there too, and his real intentions are a huge unknown, to me at least. You know what this all means?"

"It's going to become huge mess with big winners and big losers," Judy guessed and Duchess nodded.

"Indeed. What we have here is a Zootopia-wide roulette game with everyone betting. And soon, somebody will walk to the table and hit a jackpot, grant himself city's souls and minds and make a powerful political statement. I just want to make sure that whoever it is, he won't wipe me or Happytown from earth's surface in result," explained the Duchess and Judy felt chills across her spine. She did feel the tension in city before, but she didn't expect it to be this big as the mobster claimed. And yet, the number of police cars at Happytown streets… something was hanging in the air.

"But don't you worry about that, Hopps. You focus on rescuing your partner. I'll keep the grand politics in check," promised the Duchess.

"And who will keep you in check?" Judy asked, but Duchess just chuckled ominously.

"I am not a tyrant, but a humble guardian of people of Happytown," she assured amusingly. "Until next time, Hopps."

"Until next time," replied Judy. The Duchess called her people off and they left leaving Judy alone with two thugs. Hopps took a breath. That went… not so good. Not tragically, but neither well. She had proof of Young's guilt and saved those two thugs, but just gave one of the most influential mobsters of Zootopia powerful tools in shape of that briefcase, potential of which Judy wasn't even quite sure. The grand politics had always been beyond Judy, but still, she didn't want to think what Duchess was going to do with those documents.

"She's on our side. Nick's side. She won't be in way of proving his innocence so let's leave the grand politics to those who can actually make a difference," she said to herself encouragingly, finding it hard to persuade herself. But she had other things on her mind. Judy put the briefcase back in the hidden cache, left Young's house and called Clawhauser.

"Benji, you there?"

 _"_ _Who's… Judy?!"_ The cheetah asked, shocked.

"Yes, it's me. Are you at the station?"

 _"_ _Yes, are you in the town?"_

"Yes, I am. Listen, there was a B&E in house of Spencer Young, Sycamore Street 62, Happytown. I need you to send here someone trusted, preferably Barnes and Fangmeyer, and secure the place. There are two unconscious culprits tied with zip locks in there, a wolf Terence Okami and coyote Jake Rockfield. They assaulted me with intent to kill when I tried to stop them."

 _"_ _Judy, why were you in Happytown?"_ Asked Clawhauser.

"Can't tell. Tell Barnes and Fangmeyer to check the dining room. There were some suspicious scratches by the couch and I think there might be something hidden under it, some hidden cache. That could be what they were there for. Can you do that for me?"

 _"_ _Barnes and Fangmeyer are still here, I'll call them. Hopps, what's going on?"_ The cheetah seemed rather confused, but Judy couldn't tell him anything just yet.

"Thanks Benji. Sorry, I'll explain everything when I'm back," Judy promised and hung up. She caught a taxi and ordered it to take her to her rented flat. She checked the time; almost nine. Nick promised to be at her flat at the midnight. That left just a bit over two hours more till their meeting.


	13. Losses

_7.00 pm. Monday, August 26, 2020_

Once known as Jack Bayes, member of Donovan Jacob's heist group, now ZIA agent Jack Savage, parked the van just two streets from Millennium Tower construction site and checked the time.

"Just around 7 pm. If Duchess was right, we'll see them all coming," he said to his partner in the back; a rather tall vixen of sandy fur, Agent Gwyneth Skye.

"How sure are you that Duchess told you truth?" She asked, but he just shrugged.

"Ninety percent sure. I don't see a point of her fooling around with us and Wilde is useful to Happytown and her. You know, just being a fox cop," he explained and Gwen chuckled.

"Tell me about it," she muttered with amusement. Jack looked back and watched the vixen checking on her favorite sniper rifle. The thing was so polished it almost shined and that was the way Skye was; meticulous and pedantically clean. Jack watched her in silence, just enjoying the view. Until she noticed the way he stared, that is.

"What?" She asked curiously.

"N…nothing," he assured turning away instantly. "Gwen?" He turned back slowly.

"Huh?" She was still busy cleaning her rifle, but looked back at him.

"Thanks for backing me up with the director. I owe Wilde and Hopps a lot and if not for you, we wouldn't even be here," the rabbit said and she just smiled and shrugged. She had this smile that he could stare at for hours, but it was gone just as quick as it appeared.

"Boss is reasonable. And he likes you," Gwen explained.

"Really? I didn't notice," smirked Jack.

"It's subtle things. Like the way he doesn't snarl at you anymore when he kicks you out. You'll get the feel of it soon," she assured, as she finished cleaning the scope and put it back into a long black briefcase. "Alright, I'm ready. You watch the cameras and call me when either Wilde or Greymane appear. I'll be at the position."

"Roger," confirmed Jack. Skye took her rifle, opened the sliding door of the van and jumped out.

"If you lose sight of them on cameras, switch to the drone," she reminded him.

"Mhm," Jack nodded.

"And keep to the shadows with it. Don't let them see it," told him Gwyneth.

"Yup."

"And remember…"

"Yes, mom," he interrupted her and smirked insolently. She paused, hesitated and then rolled her eyes.

"Whatever…" She slammed the door and went toward the construction site while Jack chuckled and drove away. He parked in the nearby, switched to the back of the van where monitors were positioned. He turned on the feedback of the cameras they had installed last night and started the drone; a small, silent helicopter with camera with huge zoom and night vision; in the dark, it was practically unnoticeable.

"Oh, the toys I get these days," the tinkerer in him said with satisfaction after he turned everything online and toyed with drone controllers. "What's your position, Gwen?" He called her.

 _"_ _And use the surnames over radio, Savage. That's what I was going to tell you,"_ reminded him Gwen and Jack took a deep, annoyed breath. _"I can hear you rolling your eyes from here, bunny."_

"Surnames, Skye, remember of surnames," reminded her Jack half-jokingly. "What's your position?"

 _"_ _Climbing the eighth floor, Savage. I guess I'll stop here. View's as good as it gets around here,"_ answered Gwen. The vixen was going to occupy a building just two hundred feet away from Millennium Tower that was under construction as well.

"How does it look from there?"

 _"_ _No different than last night. I can cover most of the construction site, but I'll have troubles if they get inside. I'll have to follow them around the floors and there's lots of columns covering vision,"_ explained the vixen.

"There's no better location in here, though," noticed Jack, watching the cameras. He grabbed the drone controls and started playing around with it.

 _"_ _There are hardly any good sniping locations in this city,"_ agreed Gwen.

"But it'll be no challenge for ZIA's best sniper, will it?" noticed Jack.

 _"_ _Flattery will get you nowhere,"_ reminded him the vixen.

"I tend to disagree," stated the rabbit. "You know, if ZIA was announcing itself with all the toys they have, I wouldn't have even considered Police Academy, but went straight to you. We have some horrible PR in there…"

 _"_ _Stop playing with drone unnecessarily, Savage,"_ ordered him his partner.

"Fine, mom," rabbit landed the helicopter reluctantly. "Uh oh."

" _Uh oh what?"_

"Player one has entered the game, it seems," Jack smirked and zoomed in one of the cameras. "Identifying the suspect."

* * *

 _7.50 pm. Monday, August 26, 2020_

As Judy Hopps had once accurately noticed, speaking of Millennium Tower construction site in 2020 sounded like an oxymoron, but there it was; a twenty-story skeleton in the very middle of Sahara Square with "Do not enter" and "For demolition" signs all over it. Back in Nick's childhood, (and it's 90's, not 50's, as Judy tends to claim), the Tower was an actual construction site with plenty of builders, heavy equipment and all. Thomas Reynolds aimed to finish it by the end of 1999 so that city officials could celebrate the new millennium in the new highest building of Zootopia. But then the economic crisis of 1997 came and the construction was stopped. Why, no one really knows for sure; some claimed city ran out of money to fund it, others believed there was a fight between Reynolds and mayoral office. Either way, the construction was suspended, then canceled and recently, Ketchikan decided to tear the thing down. It was shame of sort, as it did serve the town in a way; it was one of those dark abandoned places where kids hanged out back when Nick was a kid and later, in 10's gangs took over and started doing their dealings. And then, ZPD came in spoiling all the fun. It was here that Nick gathered some heavy proof against Skooba and his gang back in the early days of his police career.

"It is shame your days are numbered," Nick muttered to himself, passing under the tape. Except for poor monitoring, no one was coming here these days; gangs scared the kids off and ZPD scared the gangs off. A fine place for Gerard Greymane meeting whomever he intended to meet.

"Speaking of whom…" Nick noticed a red car parked in the nearby and the wolf himself leaving it. He was climbing an unfinished staircase, stopping at the fifth floor where Nick lost sight of him. The fox looked around carefully. It seemed that it was just the two of them in there for the time being. He sneaked to the Tower and climbed to the floor where he had seen him for last time.

Nick's head popped out from the staircase as he watched around carefully. Greymane was nowhere to be seen. The fox sneaked carefully to one of the columns; there was plenty of these things in here, covering vision quite effectively. The wolf could be sneaking on him behind any of these. He checked the time. Two to eight. Around time of the meeting, if there was any to take place in here. Nick slowly peeked from behind the column.

"Where are you, Greymane?" He asked himself and then, heard something. The fox dashed instinctively, only with corner of eye noticing a huge grey paw that would have crushed him against the pillar otherwise. He rolled away and grabbed a steel pipe lying on the ground, just the size of a police baton. Gerard Greymane came from the behind the column and Nick could see him in all his glory. The wolf was simply… huge, towering over the fox. Even more now, up close, grinning and showing his sharp yellow teeth like he was going to shred him to pieces. Coming to the place, Nick tried to persuade himself that if it was just Greymane luring him in, he'd stand a chance. He was a trained cop skilled with baton. He spent half of his life on streets dealing with predators bigger than him. But now, he had no doubts that he wouldn't stand a chance.

"And after the last time, you still walked right into a trap. You're not so clever, are you?" smirked Gerard mockingly.

"Maybe it's you that walked into my trap?" Suggested Nick, putting on the confident smile, but Greymane just chuckled.

"I don't think so," the wolf muttered and lunged toward Nick. Fox jumped aside from his path. He remembered how the fight went last time. One direct hit from the wolf and he was done for. And this time they didn't need him alive. The wolf chased him, trying to hit him in boxer-like manner, but Nick kept dodging all the blows. He jumped between one of the columns and when wolf followed him one side, fox dashed to the other, slamming his side with pipe and stepping away quickly. Wolf yelped and snarled hatefully.

"Stop running around! Fight me like man!" He demanded.

"Nah, I don't think so," Nick disappeared behind another column and Greymane snarled. This time, he circled it in much bigger distance, but Nick circled as well, staying between him and the column.

"How long you're gonna play like that?" Asked the wolf impatiently.

"Till one of us falls dead from exhaustion," replied Nick jokingly. "I'm betting on you, obviously."

"Look at the joker. I killed the guys like you. Smirking and laughing as long as they were beyond reach of my paws. They're the ones that scream the loudest in the end, foxy," warned Greymane, still circling.

"Back in the Mauler days?"

"Yeah. Good old hunting days," confirmed Gerard.

"What happened to them? Why did you stop?" Wondered Nick.

"You know, got tired," shrugged the wolf.

"Come on, I don't buy it. You tired?" doubted the fox. "It was Spencer Young, wasn't it? He blackmailed you?"

"Nah, he helped me," refused Greymane, as he stopped. Nick froze just as well and prepared the pipe for a swing.

"Did he?"

"Oh, yeah. He came to me and said…" the wolf lunged forward in the middle of sentence, but Nick heard it clearly. Just when he was supposed to appear from behind the column, Nick swung the pipe. But then, Gerard grabbed it and continued charging. Nick just dropped the pipe immediately; if he hadn't, wolf would just drag him with it and slam him against one of the columns. Or just throw out of the construction site to his death.

While Gerard was still charging with pipe in his paws, Nick was already dashing in the opposite direction; to the staircase. Wolf, with no chances of catching up with him, waited out a proper moment and launched the pipe at the fox with full might. He landed a perfect throw, right in the back of Nick's knees. Fox collapsed, yelping and slid few feet across cold floor. He felt moisture in his legs and side as the wounds from Reynolds residence opened up, but he just grabbed the pipe and giggled.

"Ha, look what I found!" He smirked, as if it had been his plan all along. Greymane couldn't really tell if it was, now.

"You foxes are weird."

"I prefer cunning. It almost rhymes with still breathing," corrected him Nick as standing up.

"Or butchered," suggested the wolf.

"Not quite, but you made an attempt…" noticed the fox, but Greymane was already charging at him. Nick took position of a professional baseball batter and waited to deliver the slam. When wolf assumed he wouldn't move and lunged forward covering his face, was when fox broke the stance. Nick stepped away with wolf's claws missing his face for inches and then, slammed his paw so hard he heard something breaking. Gerard stopped dozen feet away and howled painfully.

"What an up-cracking blow, wasn't it?" Chuckled Nick. The more vexed the wolf was, the more predictable his moves turned.

"You!" Gerard snarled and lung toward him, but fox hid behind a column again. As he tried to circle it, Wilde rolled away at the other side appearing at his back. He would try to hit him when a dart dashed right before his face. He jumped back instinctively, but there was no cover from him to be found.

"Freeze! ZPD!" Came out of nowhere. Both Wilde and Greymane stood still, as they saw a horse with tranquilizer gun aimed at the fox. Nick felt creeps across his body.

"Detective Sullivan," he guessed. So that was it, the end. The crooked cop arrests him, lets Greymane go. They blame fox for killing Reynolds and the real murderers get away. Game over. He did fall into a trap.

"Freeze, Wilde, drop the pipe. It's over. You too, wolf. Hands up, both of you," demanded the detective. Fox obliged with surrender, but at the very moment Greymane raised his paws, Nick realized something didn't quite add up. Horse didn't seem to know him. Were they just trying to outsmart him? Or Sullivan really wasn't crooked, just prejudiced believing in Nick's guilt? But if so, what was he doing here?

"His name's Gerard Greymane. Together with a fox named Spencer Young he murdered Reynolds," explained to him Nick and saw a change at horse's face that gave him certainty. It wasn't the horse that was their bribed cop. Then whom? Or maybe, was there any in the first place? Or did they just play Nick into believing so.

"So you claim you're innocent?" Asked Sullivan.

"Yes, I do," confirmed Nick.

"So why didn't you turn yourself in?"

"I needed proof of my innocence. You wouldn't believe me otherwise," replied the fox.

"Do you have it?" The horse demanded to know, but Nick couldn't just tell him about what he and Judy knew.

"Working on it," he avoided the answer instead. Sullivan eyed at the Greymane who hadn't spoken since his intervention.

"So you're Gerard Greymane?" Asked the horse.

"I'm just your average citizen, sir. I saw the fox, so I tried to catch him for you," promised the wolf. Greymane was an awful actor and there was no chance Sullivan believed it. Assuming that he was an honest cop, which somehow Nick was willing to bet on at the moment.

"I'm taking you both to the station. There…" the horse decided, when Nick spotted movement in shadows.

"Behind you!" Warned Nick. Surprisingly, Sullivan trusted him and that saved him from huge knife aimed for his throat. A pronghorn appeared from the shadows and tried to slash the horse up. She knocked the gun out of Sullivan's paw, but detective dodged her next few slashes, drew his telescopic baton and continued to parry her blows. In meanwhile, Greymane lunged toward Nick. The fox dashed just below him and, having lost the pipe, he continued to run away between the columns. Greymane tried to chase him, but Nick just kept dashing around.

"Stop running around!" Snarled Greymane, but Nick only giggled.

"So what, so you can kill me?" Asked the fox.

"So you can fight fair!" Yelled back Gerard, but somehow, idea of fighting a twice higher and thrice heavier wolf didn't feel all that fair to Nick. So instead of provoking a "fair" combat, he kept delivering quick, unexpected blows and Greymane tried to hit him before he would.

Nick knew in back of his head that he couldn't keep it up forever and not just because a single well-placed blow from Greymane could end the fight. With each dash swing and blow, Nick's wounds from Reynolds residence were opening up. Everything burnt and he was feeling weaker and weaker. His goal wasn't to win; it was to wait till Sullivan does and shoots Greymane down. Then… then they'd see.

He didn't bother counting time, but it took a while for any of Mauler's desperate blind blows to connect. But when it did, it was a kick straight to the chest, knocking Nick for over dozen feet and having him roll off the verge of level. Breathless, he would have fallen, but managed to grab the edge. Graymane tried to kick him off, but Nick had already dropped himself down to the lower level. Fox stood up and took a few slow breaths, dusting himself off in meanwhile. The staircase was just couple feet away, but wolf didn't seem to be coming. In any other situation, Nick would just run down and get away from there as quick as possible, but Sullivan was there and he needed his help. Nick took the stairs up, first running up, then threading carefully, expecting Greymane to wait for him there. And then, he saw wolf trying to sneak up on Sullivan, still busy with the pronghorn. Not wasting time, the fox started running to the rescue, but Greymane saw it and charged as well. And then, Nick saw Sullivan's gun lying just a few feet away. He couldn't land a shot at wolf because of the columns, but the detective was just at right place, so… Nick grabbed gun on the run.

"Sully!" He yelled throwing the pistol to the horse. James Sullivan caught it with corner of his eye and smirked. With a single precise blow, he knocked off the pronghorn. He jumped toward the gun and caught in the air. Greymane appeared charging at him on all fours, still dozen or two feet away from him. To Sullivan, a detective with years of experience, those few seconds were like eternity. He unlocked the gun and aimed it at wolf's heart for sedative's immediate application. He then pressed the trigger twice landing two perfect shots. Greymane swayed, as if he were to collapse and Sullivan stepped away from his path. And then, instead of dropping on the ground unconscious, the wolf lunged right toward Sullivan. The detective shielded himself with paws, but wolf knocked his defense off with single powerful slash and caught him with his muzzle by throat. And then, he locked the jaws. The blood trickled, there could be heard bones crunching as Greymane lifted Sullivan in the air. He carried him a few feet and then tossed against one of the columns, already dead.

Nick watched this all from distance too far to change the outcome. And when he still kept watching the now dead horse with disbelief and complete lack of understanding what had just happened, he heard a gun reloading and saw the pronghorn with Sullivan's gun aimed right at Nick's face.

"I'm feeling dizzy," muttered Gerard.

"Sit down, Grey. I'll take it from here," assured the pronghorn and turned back at Wilde. "I guess we haven't been introduced before. Scarlet Calveit, at your service," she smiled mockingly.

"Detective Wilde," the fox replied coldly and she chuckled.

"Just look at yourself, Detective. Another innocent mammal that you just killed. Probably not even the last one tonight."

"Why are you doing this?" Nick demanded to know, clenching his fist angrily, but Scarlet Calveit just chuckled.

"I thought a cop realizes that when he doesn't know what it is about, it's most likely about the money," she pointed out with a smirk and suddenly, she reminded Nick of Donovan Jacobs. She loved power over people, enjoyed their helplessness and despair. She wouldn't just press the trigger; she'd savor the moment.

"What money?" Nick wanted to hear it from her, but she just shrugged.

"I'd have to kill you if I told you," replied Scarlet.

"Won't you anyway?" Fox didn't trust her about it.

"I'd love to and certainly would Gerard, given how you pissed him off, but someone has to take a fall, you know," explained the pronghorn. "Spencer worked really hard to ruin you. There's no point killing you anymore, now that you're the villain here," she said. She was about to press the trigger, but Nick was quicker.

"Why me?" Asked Nick. Delay. Buy time. When they're going to hang you, ask for a glass of water. Anything could happen in meanwhile.

"Spencer's choice. You're his personal favorite," she revealed with mocking smirk and followed Nick's sight to Greymane. "Oh, you're curious how we got him to work with us? Spencer saved him from prison and offered a brand new life. Really, not something you could simply reject," said Scarlet, but Nick barely registered the words. What brought his attention was not the wolf himself, but two darts sticking out from his right leg. There was no way Sullivan landed these shots and they weren't standard pistol darts either, looked more like from a sniper rifle. Who fired them? Was someone trying to cover Sullivan with sniper rifle? Nick eyed at the unfinished building to the right. A sniper from there? Why didn't he intervene earlier in the fight or now, when Scarlet had Nick at gunpoint? And then he realized. The columns were covering sniper's vision.

"Uh, huh," Nick nodded to Scarlet's words. "You know, before you shoot me, get me arrested, sent to prison and there probably killed, could you fill my one request?" He pleaded pathetically, feeding her pride even more.

"Last wish? Name it, Wilde, and I shall consider whether to fill it or not," Scarlet asked with satisfaction.

"Could you step in the light so I could see your face?" Pleased Nick. "I want to at least see the face of the one that outsmarted me," he pleased and the pronghorn laughed ominously.

"Do you think you deserve it?" She asked, but walked over. And then, a sniper shot knocked the gun out of her paws. Scarlet cursed loudly, but Nick was already running to the staircase. The pronghorn wanted to follow him, but whistles of darts reassured Nick that the mysterious sniper was covering his escape. The fox ran down the stairs and back to the construction site when a black van with opened side door crossed his path.

"Hop in!" He heard the familiar voice and jumped inside without a second thought. Nick fell at one of the seats next to a black helicopter drone and the van drove away immediately. And then, Nick saw driver's face in a mirror.

"Jack Bayes? How the…" He asked.

"Savage. It's Savage now," corrected him rabbit. "Lady Tompkins tipped me off that you might need help. Looks like she has a soft spot for you," he explained and Nick nodded.

"Of course."

"It was not Duchess, Nick, but a stranded citizen. She expects nothing in return," reassured him the rabbit. He then stopped couple streets away and through the same door dropped in a vixen of sandy fur with sniper rifle at her back.

"Nick, this is Agent Gwyneth Skye. Gwen, that's famous Nicholas Wilde," Jack said, getting away from the Millennium Tower as hurriedly as possible. Nick and Gwen shook their paws.

"We met before, when you recruited Jack, Agent Skye," Nick recalled.

"Call me Gwen or Skye, Nick," suggested the vixen.

"Good shooting there, Skye. You saved my tail," fox congratulated her a bit bitterly.

"Good thinking too, Nick. The position I had was the best I could afford and still awful. Most of the time, I had problems even watching you inside," she replied. "I'm sorry about that cop. You did everything you could have."

"We all did," assured Jack. "What was he even doing there on his own?"

"Not a clue. Until now I thought Sullivan had been bribed to frame me," shrugged Nick helplessly.

"We should call police anyway or they'll have enough time to blame it on you too. I'll take care of it," assured Gwen reaching for her phone and calling police.

"Where to now?" asked Nick in meanwhile.

"We need to take care of you first. You don't look all that good," Jack noticed pointing at Nick's bandaged paw; it was starting to turn red. So were his jeans and shirt, for matter of speaking.

"Looks like I overdid it there. Your apartment, then?" Guessed Nick.

"Yup. Gwen will call the doctor to examine you," confirmed Jack.

"What doctor?"

"The type that won't say a word of you, don't worry," promised the rabbit. "Fasten your seatbelt."

"Of course," Nick nodded. While reaching for seatbelt, he felt every single cut on his body. Greymane really slashed him up badly back in Reynolds residence. "I might bleed your seat all over."

"Ah, not the first time," waved it off Jack disturbingly casually and only then did Nick notice that his seat smelled like bleach.

"No one died in here, I hope?" Nick asked half-jokingly.

"Only Gwen's dignity. Femoral artery bleeds like a waterfall," explained Jack with a smirk while vixen rolled her eyes ostentatiously and would surely comment on it, were it not for the phone conversation she was having in that moment. Jack chuckled and continued driving and Nick leaned against side of car and yawned. He felt tired.

* * *

 _8.44 pm. Monday, August 26, 2020_

They made it to Gwen's apartment in Meadowlands about twenty minutes later. Nick and Jack went to the apartment while Gwen, having asked Wilde all that she needed to know, took the van and drove away. Nick walked inside the apartment and looked around.

"Quite fancy," admitted the fox.

"Nothing like Happytown, huh?" Asked Jack and fox nodded.

"Feels a bit sterile, though," decided Nick.

"Uh huh. That's why I'm sneaking in some soul to this place. You know, make it feel like more than just sleeping place," he said, perfectly understanding what fox meant. Before they got to talk more, a doctor, middle-aged capybara, came and took care of Nick with full professionalism. She removed all the bandages Nick had on since meeting with Finnick and that boy under the bridge. Fox took then a quick refreshing shower and when he was done, the doctor cleared the wounds and tended them, fixed his left paw as much as she could and checked Nick for any internal damage. She then reported her job done to Jack and left the apartment.

"ZIA has neat healthcare, don't we?" noticed the rabbit walking into the living room where Nick was seating, practically dressed only in underwear and ton of bandages. Jack handed him a quarter-pint beer bottle while holding his own, rabbit sized. "Want one?"

"In such a fancy place, I was half expecting wine or whiskey," joked Nick, opening his bottle with Jack's. The rabbit opened his one with an opener, they clanked the bottles and each took a deep gulp of their ice cold drinks. Just what Nick needed, he realized as he finally managed to relax.

"Well, you can steal me from Happytown, but you can't steal the Happytown out of me," joked Jack with some sort of strain in his voice. Nick watched him curiously.

"How does this whole ZIA thing work for you?" The fox asked. He was partially responsible for it in the end and didn't feel like discussing Sullivan's death just yet anyway.

"It has its highs and lows," Jack shrugged. "Mostly highs. Gwen is awesome. I mean come on, just look at her, so cool and possessed. It's been just a year, but we have each other's backs for one hundred percent," he assured with adoration in his tone. A thought came to Nick's mind, but he decided to not name it.

"That blood and losing dignity thing?" he guessed instead and Jack nodded.

"Yeah, our first and completely insane action. Gwen had my tail covered while almost bleeding to death and I made it back to her just in time to patch her up. Things like that build trust," the rabbit explained. "And others in ZIA are pretty cool about me too. I guess I'm having it easier than in police Academy so I can't really complain."

"And yet?" Nick asked. There were the lows too, after all.

"It's been over year since I was in home, never got a chance for a proper goodbye. For first eight months when I was out of Zootopia, I didn't really mind. I missed them, but time flows and I was far away anyway. But then I returned and things got… awkward. Gwen gets to see her parents when she wants to. Not too often, like once in a month or so but calls them regularly and I can't do even that. It… itches like a thorn in your side."

"Have you seen your grave?" Asked Nick and Jack nodded.

"Still full of flowers. That was creepy. But the worst thing was how we once drove through Happytown. I stopped at the traffic lights and saw mom with my two sisters crossing the street. Just couple feet away, right in front of me. I just stared at them through my shaded windshield knowing that even if they looked back, they couldn't see me. That was… Whoa. I wanted to get out of the car and call them but then I realized that I can't. For their own good. Jack Bayes is dead and as long as he is, ZIA and ZPD promised no one will investigate about the money he had stolen for his family. It's the status quo we have. That just messed me up," he explained and took a deep gulp, staring at the ceiling.

"I'm sorry," was all that Nick got to say.

"It's alright. Thanks for the chance that you gave me. If not for you, I'd be in a prison cell," noticed Jack. "Really. I'm just having my down today and that police officer that died isn't helping, but in the end… thanks that you stood up for me when you arrested me."

"Hey, you had my tail covered today. We're square," smirked Nick and sipped some of his beer, but smile quickly disappeared from his face as he thought of Sullivan. That was first death of an officer he had ever seen or even caused personally. It was not something that he'd get to forget any time soon. "I was an idiot coming there, wasn't I? Sullivan got killed because of me."

"Maybe," Jack shrugged. "And maybe you just didn't have a choice. And maybe whoever called Sullivan there, would do it anyway, whether you came or not."

"We'll know soon enough," noticed Nick.

"And by the time we do it won't matter one bit. Sometimes we make no mistakes and still lose. That's how life works," reminded him Jack.

"I guess," agreed Nick suddenly feeling a string of connection with Jack. They were not so different in the end. Both came from Happytown, both had their childhood dreams crushed. Both were at their lowest until they were given a chance to change. Both grabbed it and held on to it like nothing in their lives before. It was probably why Jack helped Nick without a second thought; because he knew just how much Wilde could lose there and he owed him just as much.

"So maybe we raise a toast?" Suggested Jack lifting his bottle and Nick followed him gladly.

"To what?"

"To our losses. So that we do everything to prevent them. And when we still fail, when it brings us to our knees, so that we still have strength to stand back up," exclaimed the rabbit.

"And if they ever take us down, for that we do not drag our friends with us," Nick finished gloomily and Jack returned a grim smile.

"Indeed," he agreed and they clanked their bottles. As drinking, Nick thought of Judy. She had been there for him since whole the thing started, never doubting him, never hesitating to help. If things really went south, would she be able to back off in time? Would she find strength to step back and watch him fall on his own? Probably not. And that thought terrified him more than anything.

* * *

 _10.36 pm. Monday, August 26, 2020_

What interrupted Nick and Jack's reflections, was sound of the opening entrance door. Wilde, the only one of the two with the view on it, turned around in the couch and saw her; a small, grey bunny with quite a bag in her paws, looking around impatiently. And then, her eyes finally found him and her nervousness turned into a joyous grin as her ears perked up immediately. The bag slipped out of her paws and in three long jumps, she already made it the dining room and to the fox, embracing him.

"Nick!" Judy hugged him so strongly it left him breathless.

"There you are, Carrots!" He replied hugging her back. He was so happy to see her. More than he'd even anticipate and he did aim high. For a short moment nothing mattered. Not the city, not Reynolds or Sullivan, not even Jack or Gwen, subtly backing out to the kitchen. And not even the fact that Judy was crushing his freshly opened wounds.

"Nick, I heard about Sullivan. I'm so sorry," she said and her hug loosened a bit, much to his unspoken relief.

"Good thing nothing happened to you," noticed Nick and Judy dropped him and watched the fox carefully.

"To me? Look at yourself, you dumb fox. Bandages from head to toe," she replied with grim smile. "Sleeping under bridges, constantly on the run both from police and criminals and you're still worrying about me."

"I am," Nick admitted with honesty that made her laugh. Judy fell on the couch beside him and stared at him silently. "What?" He asked.

"Dumb fox," she said.

"Sly bunny," he smirked.

"And you're drunk," Judy accused him.

"I'm not drunk, it was just one beer," he replied. "I could be driving a car now, if I had to."

"You wouldn't and you won't. Not with that paw," Judy forbid him and Nick giggled in reply. For a while, they sat in the couch silently, simply enjoying each other's presence and tranquility of the moment.

"Tough week, huh?" Nick muttered.

"Tough week," agreed Judy only now realizing that it hadn't been even a week since Reynolds' murder. It felt like a month at least with all the places they had been to and things they had done. She couldn't help but to shake her head and sigh with disbelief. And then, they heard knocking on the doorframe. Those were Jack and Gwen.

"Mind us?" Asked the rabbit and both officers invited them in with gesture. The two ZIA agents walked inside the room, Gwyneth carrying two pizza boxes.

"You must be starving, so I ordered these while picking Judy up," she noticed putting them on the table and both Judy and Nick replied with grins. They were. The four mammals sat by the table and each grabbed a pizza piece. Nick ate his one before Judy even got to bite into hers.

"Well, Nick is starving for sure," Jack commented and fox just shrugged; he'd reply, but he was busy with another one. Judy just giggled.

"So… what's our situation?" She asked between bites. "You're ZIA officials and you clearly intervened with your boss's approval. You won't just let me or Nick go."

"Nothing holds you here," assured Jack. "Formally, that is," he corrected himself quickly.

"But yes, Nick won't be returning to the streets, if that's your concern," confirmed Gwen. "Rather straight to ZPD."

"So you're turning me in?" Wilde guessed.

"Director gave us today three days to intercept and return you. For now, you're officially in ZIA's custody and we won't need to inform ZPD just yet. On Wednesday, we're supposed to deliver you to ZPD with the evidence we'll have gathered for your case," explained the vixen.

"We already have more than enough proof that you didn't murder Sullivan. Just camera recordings and our testimonies will suffice here. We still have two days more to find real murderers of Reynolds and proof against them," added Jack.

"It's Spencer Young, a fox from Happyytown," said Judy. "He had confessed it to me today in around the noon. It's… a long story," she explained seeing Jack and Gwen's surprise.

"It's perfect moment for such stories, I believe," suggested Gwen and so, Judy told them of everything that happened to her that day, including meeting with Spencer and later, with Duchess in fox's house. The news had all three of them very concerned, especially of fate of the certain suitcase full of most peculiar documents.

"Reckless, but righteous," admitted Skye. "Now that Duchess has it, we have no means of retrieving it, I suppose?" She guessed and both Nick and Jack shook their heads.

"Thunders will probably try with Tundratown ZPD's paws, but he's meant to fail there," assured the rabbit. "And I don't think it matters for now; we should rather focus on how we can further assist Nick and Judy…" he said and at that moment, Judy's phone rang. All three watched the bunny with surprise and Judy checked it. It was Kaylee, but she certainly didn't expect her to call this late on the day of Max's father's funeral.

"Hey, Kaylee, not sleeping yet?" Judy picked up and switched the phone to loudspeaker for everyone to hear.

 _"_ _Hey, Judy. I thought we were supposed to meet tonight?"_ Asked cordially a male voice that made Judy shiver in horror. She knew that voice. It belonged to Spencer Young.


	14. Hollow

_7.44 pm. Monday, August 26, 2020_

The funeral reception in memory of Thomas Ezekiel Reynolds lasted until around 7 pm and was held in the Reynolds residence for the convenience matters. It was a strange thing, how for one evening, this building lived again. In these halls, Max's father lived. In those rooms he slept, worked and ate. This realization burnt in Max's heart throughout the evening, but it was cleansing fire. Fire that burnt and thus, purified. Talking with familiar faces, stepping the familiar corridors, Max suffered, but also felt the relief pouring into him. Acceptance and surrender were joining it as he was coming to terms with reality as it was.

Kaylee watched this change carefully. She never named it loudly, but she could see what he was going through and that evening, she allowed him to walk through it alone, for it was the path he had to take on his own. But right after the last guest left, she gave him a warm hug that expressed everything. Max accepted it most joyously. He had just lost his father, but he still had her. He still had a point, a force driving him to act.

"It was a fine banquet," Max noticed.

"Uh huh. Now someone has to clean it all up," Kaylee teased him.

"I'll help the service. You go home, you're tired," Max suggested.

"I'm alright."

"You're swaying, darling. You hardly ever rested since Friday and you deserve some twelve-hour sleep," the wolf pointed out. "And besides… I want to take a walk around the mansion. Alone with my thoughts."

"Feeling any better?"

"In fact, yes. I think… I'm putting things back together. Maybe I'll return to the service on Thursday or Friday?" He suggested optimistically and Kaylee smiled joyously.

"Good to hear," she was really pleased with his words. "So I guess I'll… I'll take car for a ride and then go home. I should be back before you…" Kaylee eyed at the banquet hall. "Given the mess here."

"Where are you going?" Max wondered.

"I just need to check something. It shouldn't take long and I'll call you otherwise," she promised and kissed her fiancé. "See you at home."

"See you at home," Max replied and watched her, as bunny was leaving the banquet hall. He felt chills across his bones. What would he ever do without her?

 _8.14 pm. Monday, August 26, 2020_

Kaylee drove south to Savanna Central, Acacia Street. Back to Acacia Street, in fact. After seven years, she was coming back to her family home. She hated it. She hated that street, that house and the rabbits that lived in there. On the day of eighteenth birthday, they gave her a week to pack her things and find a new house. Kaylee left on the next morning with no regrets and found shelter at Olivier Shay Antiery's place. Her mother laughed at her as she carried a small bag of her personal stuff, mocking her that she'd come back in a month, begging them to take her back. Kaylee never did. For seven years, she did not come to the Acacia Street, she never saw any of her family. They didn't appear at the ZPD inauguration or in hospital when she was hurt by Max in Dungeon or later in Watering Hole Port. Kaylee never considered inviting them to her wedding. And then, Max's speech at the funeral happened and it got her to think. Find the time for your family and find it today for tomorrow it might be too late, he said. And so, Kaylee stopped her car at parking couple streets south and walked the remaining distance. And then, she saw it; their small house with their greengrocer's right next to it named "Cranes". It even had a picture of these long-necked birds carrying baskets of fruits and veggies in them. Kaylee smiled bitterly. She remembered how she painted it together with her sister, Ashley, on one of those rare days when family tolerated her. When you have few such memories, you cherish them.

The store didn't look all that good, though; paint was all faded and falling off and Kaylee noticed that the old crack in the foundation grew bigger. It certainly wouldn't mind a renovation and Kaylee sadly realized that the house looked no better. The fence was still damaged and scratched front door that required exchanging back when she was leaving remained unfixed. The small lawn they had was even more messy than usual.

Kaylee pushed a small, rusty gate and it opened with screech she remembered so well from childhood days. Whoever was home, already knew they had guests now. The bunny walked over to the front door. She took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell. It gave out a short, screeching sound just like it would a decade ago. This place didn't change one bit; it deteriorated at best.

The door opened slowly, carefully, as if the host wanted to check who was coming first. Kaylee recognized her mother immediately. Brown fur, azure eyes, her favorite green shirt and usual jeans. She looked like older Kaylee, just a bit plumper. Kaylee hated that thought. She hated to admit that there was any actual resemblance between them. She hated those rare moments when they talked normally, because they'd only remind Kaylee later of how similar the two of them really were. She feared that one day Kaylee could unknowingly become to her children a demon that old hag was to her. And most certainly, Kaylee hated her mother, now staring at her daughter with confused surprise.

"Kaylee?" Asked Mrs. Crane with shock.

"Mother," replied Kaylee emotionlessly. For a moment they lasted in awkward silence. She hated how her mother stared at her blankly.

"You came back," said Mrs. Agnieszka Crane. Kaylee hated that stupid, foreign name of hers.

"I figured I'd say hi, since I was in the…" before Kaylee got to finish her sentence, she already felt her mother's arms embracing around her and pressing to her chest. For first few seconds, she just stood there still with her fists clenched and confusion all over her mind. From all the reactions, a hug was the least expected. She hated this cheap attempt at affection… And then she cracked up and hugged her mother back, allowing the warm, fuzzy feeling in her heart to embrace her.

"You came back, Kaylee," whispered her mother fondly.

"I… can we come inside?" Kaylee pleased and her mother nodded eagerly.

"Of course, of course. Come on," Mrs. Crane dropped her daughter and invited her inside. They settled in the dining room and Kaylee's mother soon brought some water and poured the two of them. Somewhere in the back, an old kettle started to hum.

"Where's everyone?" Kaylee asked curiously.

"Doing their own errands, mostly at work now."

"How are they doing? It's… it's been years," Kaylee noticed.

"Everyone got their own jobs. Lucas and Josh work at factory, Paul in the mall, Agnes and Sue went to nursery and Ashley got to be a journalist. And I and dad still have our shop. We're teaching Chase to take it over," explained her mother.

"Chase? I thought he was going to university?" Kaylee asked suspiciously. While family hated her, Chase was the "genius" in their family, an apple of their eye. Smart, cool, handsome and all that crap. Oh, and parents might have devoted achievements of their last twenty years to send him to university.

"Oh, things… didn't work out with it. Chase went there, but he didn't like it. Dropped out at fourth semester. You know, life," shrugged it off her mother. "But that's even better. He really likes it here, with us," explained Mrs. Crane and Kaylee groaned internally. Chase dropped out in the middle of the semester wasting all that money and they shrugged it off? The same parents that belted her when she lost their fifteen bucks?

"Life," muttered Kaylee weakly forcing herself to give them a chance. They weren't that bad, were they?

"And how is yours? You've been in ZPD for a while now, haven't you?" Noticed Mrs. Crane.

"Over a year now," confirmed Kaylee.

"What are you doing there again?" Asked her mother, as if they ever talked about it. As if they had talked about anything normally in last twelve years.

"I'm a Technical Officer. I assist normal officers with technical issues, especially IT. I help them out during big actions coordinating surveillance, communication or eavesdropping. Sometimes I get to serve as technological expert when officer face something they have no idea about, like in case of surveillance issues in National Bank last year. I specialize in malware and data security, but ZPD sent me to some courses and I know now a fair share of electronics as well," Kaylee explained and watched her mother's confusion with a sort of petty satisfaction.

"So you're… a police hacker?" She summed up uncertainly.

"Yeah, you can put it that way," nodded the bunny.

"You've always been a smart kid, Kaylee," said Mrs. Crane proudly. "And I heard you found yourself some top-shelf fiancé?"

"Mhm, Max Reynolds. He's… wonderful. He may be no rabbit, but he's just the guy, mom," Kaylee explained and felt a sting. Her mother knew of her canine kink. Whole her family knew and made her a laughing stock over it, just like when she tried to hit on Spencer Young back in high school… and yet, her mother wasn't smiling now. At least not mockingly.

"I'm happy you found your place, Kaylee," she congratulated her. "You two live together?"

"Mhm, but not in his family mansion, it feels too… suppressing to me. We bought a small house just for the four or five of us," she nodded.

"Four?" Her mother watched her carefully and Kaylee chuckled.

"Oh, we… we plan to adopt. Since we won't be able to have kittens and we both want to have them, we figured that'd be the only reasonable thing to do," she said and her mother watched her with a smirk.

"Well, well, well, you've grown up a lot, Kaylee," complimented her Mrs. Crane. It felt weird. Kaylee hated her mother. She always thought her mother hated her too. And yet they were talking normally, as if nothing had ever happened between them. Part of her knew it was what she wanted; a bit of mother's love and acceptance. The other, cynical and masochistic part of her believed it was merely wishful thinking of a rejected child in her. And that part of her was screaming.

"So can we finally talk like grown-ups?" Kaylee asked so seriously that her mother hesitated.

"Yes?" Was all that she said.

"Why did you hate me?" Kaylee demanded to know. Her mother opened mouth to speak, stopped in the middle of word and let her sight down with remorse.

"I… I never treated you right."

"Why?!"

"I… Your father and I planned college for Chase since the day he was born. He was always the smart boy, so bright, so quick to learn… Rest of kits was nowhere close to him and we just assumed that we'd send him to college. He was supposed to be the first Crane that passed…" her mother started explaining shamefully.

"And then you noticed that I'm passing tests better than Chase," continued Crane. "And he saw it too and he knew that you could change your plans, so he started mocking me. I was a quiet kid, without you I couldn't fend him off. But you did nothing! You said he's just a brother being a brother! And then other kids joined and then you joined and I…" Kaylee clenched her fists angrily, but she did not burst out. She was better than that.

"We've done a horrible mistake, kit. I love you, darling," Mrs. Crane put a paw on Kaylee's and she slowly opened her fist. "I love you and I'm sorry. So many nights I couldn't sleep thinking of you and how I did you wrong. I wanted to find you, but I thought you'd never forgive me. I don't deserve to be forgiven, but I love you, Kaylee," Mrs. Agnieszka Crane reassured and Kaylee looked her deeply in the eyes. She saw no dishonesty in those, but again, she knew how well her mother could lie when needed. She always did when meeting with Kaylee's teachers back in school. And then, Kaylee looked around the house and something struck her. Nothing really changed in here over the years. It all just deteriorated. All the shabby walls, old furniture, worn out household appliances and the house itself, they all screamed: poverty. At that moment a thought sparkled in Kaylee's mind. Evil, twisted and petty thought that she was ashamed of, but she were to let her mother back into her life, she had to know for sure.

"It looks no good around here. You're not doing so well these days and Chase thing didn't help one bit, huh?" She guessed and her mother smiled sadly, apparently treating change of subject as unspoken forgiveness.

"It's no Chase's fault, but whole the university thing was more than we could chew," confirmed Mrs. Crane. "The living room and bathroom demand renovations and whole store is falling apart. I honestly have no idea where are we going to take the money from…" Mrs. Crane sighed deeply and glanced at her daughter. And at that moment, Kaylee gained certainty of what she had feared.

"Mother?"

"Yes, Kaylee?"

"Would you have opened the front door to me if I were broke?" She demanded to know.

"What?! How do you even…" Her mother protested, outraged, but she couldn't fool Kaylee anymore.

"If I hadn't Max whom you could try and milk for all the money you need, would you have opened the door to me?" Kaylee repeated herself, clenching her fist angrily. Her mother looked down shamefully for a second and then tried to reach for Kaylee's paw, but was too late.

"I thought so," Kaylee stood up from her chair and headed to the front door. Her mother chased after her.

"Wait, Kaylee! It's not like this!" Pleaded Mrs. Crane. "Kaylee, I love you…" She claimed, putting arm on shoulder as Kaylee reached the doorknob. And then, she turned around and smacked her paw off shoulder and turned around rapidly.

"You do not! You never did and you never will!" Kaylee threatened her with finger and her mother kept stepping back until she hit a wall with her back. "You rutting hate me! You hate me because I was smarter than Chase and I was ruining your little retarded plan! Because I was different! And now, when I came to your rutting house rutting begging for your acceptance like a goddamned prodigal daughter, something you did not even deserve, you pathetic scumbag, you greet me with your arms opened and your filthy paws reaching for my fiancé's wallet! How do you rutting dare?" Kaylee yelled at her mother furiously, suppressing her against the wall. The kettle in the back was starting to whistle shyly.

"And what else did you expect, brat, coming after all these years?! Mommy patting you on your back and saying we're all good?!" Mrs. Crane laughed at her, her appearance changing rapidly. With nothing more to gain, she finally removed her mask of motherly love.

"An apologize! A rutting apologize!" Kaylee screamed. "That's all I ever wanted! So you'd apologize to me for what your family did to me, you cheap gutter s…" And in that moment, Mrs. Crane grabbed the first thing in her reach, a small family picture frame, and smashed her daughter in face with it. The bunny swayed but didn't fall, as wood and glass debris scattered across the room. Kaylee hissed painfully and held her eyebrow. She then watched her paw, red with blood and stared back at her mother dreadfully. Mrs. Agnieszka Crane, at first scared of what she had done, slowly regained composure. The kettle was screeching now.

"I told you to never come back here, Kaylee," said the mother. Kaylee looked down at a family photo lying right by her feet. She reached for it and watched it carefully. Whole Crane family, happy and smiling. She tore her face off, crushed the rest of them and dropped it on the floor.

"You did and I will not," she promised. Kaylee left slamming the door and kicking open the rusty gate. She then walked back to the car, with blood dripping on the pavement, fists clenched in fury and eyes wet, but never made it there. As she walked an underground passage, something cracked in her. She burst into tears, hid her face in paws and leaned against the wall. She slowly slid down on the ground, as she began to weep among empty bottles. And then, she heard steps and recognized a familiar silhouette entering the tunnel.

* * *

 _10.31 pm. Monday, August 26, 2020_

When Max arrived at his home at Trip Street by taxi, he acknowledged with satisfaction that the lights in whole house were off meaning that Kaylee probably was already asleep. That crazy bunny deserved some rest. He opened the front door with his key and went straight to the bedroom. He turned the light on to hang the suit back when he realized his fiancée was not in there.

"Kaylee?" He asked, but heard no reply. Max walked downstairs to check if she wasn't sleeping on the couch or wherever else, but she was nowhere to be found. He called her and no one picked up.

"Where are you?" He muttered to himself. And then, an idea came to his head. Both their cars had tracking devices in case of theft and Kaylee did take car with her. He opened the app and located bunny's car.

"Savanna Central? What are you doing there?" He asked himself, but didn't really dwell much on it. Instead, he dressed up, grabbed his own car keys and drove to the parking. He drove there faster than usual, utilizing the empty streets to maximum extent. He found Kaylee's car right at the spot, locked and untouched. He could still smell her in the air. And then he caught with his nose something else. Blood. Her blood. Just like in the Dungeon.

"No, no, no…" he whispered to himself. He ran down the stairs into the underground tunnel and then, he saw a puddle of blood. His paws began to shake as the stench filled his nostrils and wolf had no doubts. It was Kaylee's blood and just the amount was terrifying. Fatal, probably, was the thought that Max desperately tried to push away. He reached for the phone and dialed 911.

"ZPD? I want to report a…" His voice trailed off. "A… rut it…"

 _"_ _Sir, please take a deep, slow breath."_ Pleased warm female voice.

"OK," Max replied trying to calm himself down. He wouldn't help Kaylee breaking down. If he could still help Kaylee, that is.

 _"_ _Can you tell me where you are and what happened?"_

"By parking at Lycamore Street, in the underground tunnel. I want to report an assault and either kidnapping or a murder. The victim is most likely my fiancée…" Max cursed under his breath. "Kaylee Crane, Technical Officer from ZPD Precinct 1. There's… there's a lot of blood in here," he reported with voice shaking.

 _"_ _I understand she is not there?"_

"Correct," nodded Max.

 _"_ _Understood. We're sending a patrol. Could you identify yourself?"_

"Officer Maximilian Reynolds, Precinct 1," the wolf uttered.

 _"_ _Max, you have good smell don't you? I please you to not step into the crime scene, but do you smell or see anything else in here?"_ The dispatcher pleased.

"Pepper spray smell is strong. Kaylee has one, it could be hers," Max stated. "And I think that's her purse in there… Damn it, how could this have…"

 _"_ _Max, do you remember what you two were doing this evening?"_ The dispatcher asked, carefully drawing his attention away from the dark thoughts filling his mind.

"We… we were having funeral reception for my father in his mansion for whole the afternoon. After nine, when all the guests left, I stayed to help clean the place up and told Kaylee to come back home. She claimed she still had a place to visit and… It's all my fault, if I didn't…"

 _"_ _Did she tell you where she was going?"_ The dispatcher interrupted him just in time.

"No. I don't know, I didn't ask and I… Can you stay on the line till police come?" He pleaded, sitting on the stairs to the tunnel.

 _"_ _Of course, Max. I'm here for you,"_ assured warm female voice.

* * *

 _11.30 pm. Monday, August 26, 2020_

Max was sitting in an opened police car with face in his paws, watching the police at work from between the fingers. It was quite a crowd there; detectives, forensics, average officers, it looked like half of a station was walking around the place. But Max hardly thought of them; his thoughts were with Kaylee. What happened to her? Was he ever going to see her again? Was she even alive? Blame haunted the wolf to the point he didn't even notice a police officer approaching him.

"Officer Max Reynolds?" Asked a female sheep officer, offering Max a cup of what looked like hot chocolate. "It's a cold night," she explained and Max accepted it.

"It's me," he confirmed standing up.

"Detective Claudia Van Troff, Precinct 8. I'm in charge of the investigation," she introduced herself and wolf shook her paw.

"How does it look, then?" He asked and she hesitated.

"We organized patrols to search for Officer Crane throughout the city. It's good that you called us this early, first twenty-four hours are crucial for…"

"I know. How bad is it?" Max interrupted her impatiently.

"We identified it was Officer Crane for sure by the purse and phone she left in the tunnel. Her wallet was at place too, which speaks against usual robbery."

"Do you think she's alive?" Max wanted to know. He noted in mind that they found no throw-away phone.

"We believe so," confirmed the sheep, but she didn't sound too convincing and wolf expected no different answer from her. "It wasn't an average robbery and neither a plain murder. The attacker bothered to carry her to the parking so we assume he could have taken her to a car in order to kidnap her. For a ransom, most likely," expressed her suspicions Detective Van Troff.

"Or just dumped her in the river behind our backs," Max muttered gloomily. He had seen the scuba divers that were called to the scene.

"We consider every possibility, even the most unlikely," she replied reasonably. "I will have now to ask you couple standard questions. What were you doing this evening?"

"We were at the funeral reception of my father, Thomas Reynolds, for basically whole day. About 8 pm last quests left and I stayed in father's mansion to help clean up the place, while Kaylee said that she'd go check something out. I expected to find her in house, but she wasn't anywhere there. I tried calling her and, as she didn't pick up, traced her car here. Then I found… this," Max explained.

"How did you trace her?"

"We have GPS installed in both our cars in case of theft," told her Max.

"And you don't know what she was going to do here?" The detective asked, but he only shrugged.

"Not really. Her family lives in nearby and maybe she wanted to see then, but she hates them. They abused her a lot and there's no way… Or maybe?"

"We can just ask. Do you know where they live?" Wondered Claudia Van Troff.

"Acacia Street. They have a greengrocer's named Crane, I think," Max said uncertainly.

"Did Officer Crane have enemies?"

"Not that I know of," refused Max. "She wasn't really liked in school and made her first real friends in ZPD, but I've never heard of her having enemies. Maybe except for her family or Olivier Antiery, but he's dead."

"And do you have enemies, Max?"

"I? Not really, but father had plenty, starting with half of Happytown," replied the wolf. "Do you think they could have done it because of me?"

"We're considering every option," replied the sheep and Max hated hearing this crap again. For once, he'd want to know what she really thinks, not a generic answer. "There is a possibility someone will call you with a demand of ransom. In such a case…"

"I'll contact you immediately. But honestly, if they want money, then I'm willing to give them any fortune they demand. When Kaylee is safe you can chase them around," he warned.

"Of course. Can you think of anyone else that could be involved in this?" Wondered the detective and Max hesitated and then nodded.

"I think it might be connected to murder of my father. Kaylee was really invested in finding the murderer, even if she didn't work on it officially. She looked for connections on her own, in Internet or…" He explained and then watched sheep's expression changing gradually. "What?"

"I think that could… fit," she admitted carefully.

"Why?" Max asked with confusion.

"Because we found fox fur in the blood," she explained.

"There is no way Nicky would have…" Max protested realizing what she implied.

"Do you know any other foxes that could be involved in either of these crimes?"

"No, but I know like five foxes in total and there are thousands of them in Zootopia! There must be someone with a motive and resources that I don't know about!" The wolf refused firmly.

"Of course," she assured with such tone that Max wasn't really sure if she believed him. "That would be all, we shouldn't keep you in here any longer," she then decided. "We will call you when we have further questions or learn something important."

"Sure," Max nodded.

"Do you need someone to…"

"I can still drive," replied Max a bit harsher than he meant to. "Thanks for care," he sipped some of the hot chocolate and walked back to the car.

"Max?" Called him Claudia Van Troff just after he passed by her and Max turned around watching her carefully.

"Huh?" He asked uncaringly.

"We'll get whoever did it," she promised.

"Just find Kaylee," he replied dropping angrily the almost full cup into a trashcan and walked back to his car. Max drove away slowly, still staring at the underground passage and cops doing their jobs. He felt creeps as, just leaving the place, he caught with corner of eye scuba divers walking toward the channel. Checking every possibility, sure.

Even with the streets empty, Max drove slowly. He was delaying the inevitable, but in the end, he arrived at his house at Trip Street. Wolf clenched his fists on driving wheel in helplessness; he wanted to howl and scream. This place was supposed to be their safe haven, a fresh start. And now Kaylee was probably dead and it was his fault. He wasn't sorrowful or even furious; he was hollow, like someone had punched a hole in his chest. He just sat in his car, staring blankly at the street and realizing that there was no one for him to call; not Kaylee, Judy or Nick, not his father. This late not even his sister or partner from ZPD, Barnes. And so, Max sat in his car quietly, sinking lower and lower into hollow hopelessness. And as he was reaching the bottom, a terrifying question sparked in wolf's despaired mind.

 _"_ _Could you have done it, Nicky?"_


	15. The agreement

_10.12 pm. Monday, August 26, 2020_

Kaylee woke up to the complete darkness and awful headache. She was locked in some small space, given the noise of car engine, a trunk of car on the move. Her feet and paws were tied limiting her movement drastically. In her mouth, someone stuck a thick piece of cloth, rendering her unable to call for help. Her left thigh that burnt with pain was wrapped with duct tape tightly and most of her dress was covered in thickened liquid; her own blood. Kaylee was terrified and on the verge of fainting from blood loss, but she knew she couldn't afford to do so now. She had to act immediately.

First off, establish situation. She was locked in a car trunk unable to scream or move a lot. What had happened? Spencer Young, who most likely was Max's father's murderer, attacked her on her way to the car. He first hit her on the head and then, as she tried to kick him and emptied the pepper spray, slashed her thigh deeply breaking artery and causing heavy bleeding. She'd have died, were he not to intervene. So, was he going to kill her? Not for now, but eventually yes. She saw his face and since whole Young's plan seemed to base on framing Nick, he couldn't afford to let her live now. Then why not to kill yet? Because he was going to use her against Judy and Nick, probably rat them out into paws of their friend at the ZPD. Which meant Kaylee had to escape immediately. The moment she reached Spencer Young's place, she is dead.

 _"_ _Now, how to escape a car trunk?"_ She asked herself. Actually, there were couple ways. First off, all non-hatchbacks sold after 2002 were inquired to have an emergency trunk release on the inside. Or she could find the release cable. She searched for either for quite a moment, but soon realized Spencer must have secured both.

 _"_ _To the lights,"_ she decided, reaching with paws to where the back lights probably were. If she got to push one of them out and started waving for help, someone could see her. Or even if not, she could still disconnect them and increase chances of random patrol stopping Young. Kaylee started searching for the back lights, but only found welded plates covering all the cables. She cursed in her mind. This couldn't be ending like this. She couldn't give up and wait like a lamb for her slaughter. And then, as she was searching for any tools, the car stopped and the engine noise died. Kaylee froze in horror. They couldn't be…

"Here we are, Kaylee," said Spencer, opening the trunk. The rabbit jumped out of it immediately trying to slam him, but her wounded leg failed her and she wasn't quick enough; the fox grabbed her midair and dropped on the floor.

"No, use," he stated, squinting his eyes. Were she not in peril, the bunny would wonder how he even drove a car with the amount of pepper spray she unloaded right in his face.

"O! Uck! Yo-ef!" Kaylee screamed with the piece of cloth still gagging her. She took a moment to look around; they were in some garage, but she couldn't even tell in what part of city. Air felt humid. Rainforest District, maybe?

"You always cursed like a sailor," Spencer muttered, grabbing her by her tied paws and dragging through a rather spacious house to a big, empty room. He dropped her on her belly in the middle and took the cloth out of Kaylee's mouth. He rabbit looked around; except for her, there were five mammals in total; Spencer Young, his girlfriend Scarlet Calveit, a tall grey wolf she did not recognize, Donovan Jacobs and Joshua Morrows. All of them stared down at her with triumphal smiles, but it was the wolf that disturbed her at most. There was something… foul, beastly in him. And then Kaylee noticed that by wolf's side was standing a painting she remembered from Thomas Reynolds' collection: the "Moonlight".

"So that's what it is about; you're trying to sell the picture," she muttered and Donovan nodded.

"Indeed, Miss Antiery."

"Don't call me that," she insisted angrily. Just the memory of Olivier Antiery made her feel bad with herself and everything that had happened back then.

"Why not? You were his girl till the end, unable to shoot him even when your life depended on it. You know, the two of you could have been absurdly rich, if you only helped us out back when we stole the previous painting. And now he's dead," noticed Donovan Jacobs with amusement and Joshua Morrows chuckled. The rabbit just stared coldly at the raccoon, but replied nothing to that.

"Well, she never was the sharpest knife in a drawer," noticed Scarlet. "Do you have her phone, Spencey?"

"And Hopps' number in it, I do," the fox waved it in the air.

"Don't you even rutting dare, you backstabbing bastard!" Kaylee yelled at him and the wolf chuckled showing his long, yellow teeth stained with blood. Just the laugh of his made the bunny tremble, bringing out her inner fears.

"Or what'cha gonna do?" Smirked Gerard Greymane kneeling by her with the toothiest grin she had ever seen. Kaylee's heart rate spiked and he acknowledged it with satisfaction. "Hey, do you think that I could make her heart pop out just grinning?" He asked half-jokingly.

"Enough, Gerard. I'm calling Hopps," ordered the fox and the wolf stood back reluctantly. Spencer Young then dialed the only number saved on the phone and switched to the loudspeaker. Kaylee prayed in her mind that Judy wouldn't pick up, but of course, she did so immediately.

 _"_ _Hey, Kaylee, not sleeping yet?"_ Asked Judy casually.

"Hey, Judy. I thought we were supposed to meet tonight?" Asked Spencer just as happily and Donovan cackled. Oh, how much he'd give to see her face right now.

 _"_ _Spencer…"_ Judy nearly hissed his name. _"What have you done to her?"_

"Nothing yet, but that may change very soon," the fox warned. "Now, I assume you do have Wilde and his mysterious saviors with you, wherever you are?"

 _"_ _She does,"_ Nick confirmed.

"Wonderful. And since we have your dear friend Kaylee…"

 _"_ _I want a proof you do have her. And that you haven't killed her yet,"_ demanded Judy firmly.

"Of course," complied Spencer kneeling before Kaylee and bringing the phone to her face. "Say hello to your friends, Kaylee," he insisted, but the bunny remained silent. Spencer couldn't afford to let her live now that she saw their all faces and the painting. He was going to kill her anyway. If Kaylee couldn't change that, then she at least wasn't going to let him use herself against Nick and Judy.

"Come on, everybody's waiting," encouraged her Spencer with a weak smile, but Kaylee just stared in his eyes coldly. She was not going to speak.

"Enough," Scarlet decided. She walked over and before anyone reacted, not that anyone would, stepped with heel on Kaylee's wounded thigh, pressing it to the ground. Kaylee shrieked in pain.

 _"_ _Kaylee!"_ Judy called her fearfully.

"We're either going to make you speak or scream, rabbit. Your choice," told her Scarlet, grinning with grim satisfaction. She pressed her thigh a bit more and Crane squealed pathetically.

 _"_ _Kaylee, listen to me. We're going to rescue you, OK? Everything's going to be fine…"_ Judy encouraged her.

"Bullshit. They're going to kill me and try to frame Nick and you know it," Kaylee interrupted her. "Whatever they say, do not agree…" And then, shrieked again as Scarlet pressured her wound with heel.

"Now, you've got it. Kaylee's still alive and with us," Spencer Young took phone away from bunny and stood up while giving his girlfriend sight full of disapproval. She just shrugged, grinning with satisfaction. "We don't need to kill her. We just need Detective Wilde turning in to ZPD. Here's the deal. Tomorrow at 8 am, I expect Hopps and Wilde coming over to the ZPD Precinct 1 police station. At the same time, I will release Kaylee to the mysterious saviors of Wilde from the Millennium Tower. I want to know their identities beforehand," he demanded.

 _"_ _We need time to…"_

"You have half an hour," Spencer hung up. He then threw the phone to Scarlet. "Get rid of it, remember to write down the number," he ordered tersely. "Mr. Morrows, check Kaylee's leg and take her to the cellar. Mr. Jacobs, the painting is ready to be sold, I assume?" The fox asked.

"We're making the trade tomorrow in the evening," raccoon assured.

"Perfect. Once Wilde and Hopps agree to the terms, I'll go and move the painting to a safer location. But for now, we wait."

* * *

 _11.18 pm. Monday, August 26, 2020_

As Spencer Young hung up, Nick Wilde, Judy Hopps, Jack Savage and Gwyneth Skye stared at each other in silence. And then, Judy screamed angrily and threw a nearest cushion against wall in gesture as ridiculous as it was pitiful.

"It's all my fault! If I hadn't dragged her into this…" She cursed herself.

"He probably didn't even know she was helping you, Carrots, but knew her and was aware that we're friends," Nick pointed out. He didn't dare to mention that Kaylee must have been their back up plan which they employed only because he got away from the Millennium Tower. He was feeling bad enough without naming the thought. Judy sighed deeply and nodded.

"We need to save her," she tried to not think of it and looked up at Jack and Gwen.

"We're with you," Jack promised immediately. "You should turn in just like he demanded and we'll take care of Crane."

"We'll need to be careful though. Crane must have had reasons to demand no rescue," warned Gwen joining the discussion. Judy hesitated. A year ago, she'd say it was just Kaylee being Kaylee, valuing everyone over herself. But nowadays…

"She's certain she's the only one that saw Young's accomplices. Or she knows something we don't," guessed Judy.

"Back at Millennium Towers, Scarlet Calveit mentioned money being on the line. I think we can safely assume that they stole a painting from Reynolds when they killed him," suggested Nick. "It would fit with them freeing Donovan Jacobs."

"So we assume Donovan Jacobs…" Gwen hesitated. "Well, it's only reasonable. To sum up, as of now, we know of… five culprits? Six?" She counted.

"Five for sure: Spencer Young, Scarlet Calveit, Gerard Greymane, Donovan Jacobs and Joshua Morrows. We don't know for sure how Lucas Wool is involved in this… or if he's even alive, for the matter of speaking," Judy named all their suspects. "That's a lot."

"Which means we'll be outnumbered at the place of trade," muttered Gwen gloomily. "How do we do this?"

"I think Nick and Judy will grab your car to ZPD Precinct 1, while we will go with van to the trade place. Usual procedure, you cover me with sniper rifle while I do the thing. We'll stay in touch and I'll make sure you get arrested no earlier than when I finally have Crane safe," suggested Jack and everyone nodded with approval.

"Sounds reasonable. What about your identities? Will you give away the real ones?" Nick asked.

"There's no reason not to; when Young learns there is ZIA involved, he'll realize there is no point in killing Crane or anyone else. The truth is out already," Judy noticed.

"And they won't be able to blame anything on Nick anymore, now that we are here," agreed Gwen playing with Judy's throw-away phone. "If they have tiniest bit of reason, they will not hurt Kaylee."

"Hopefully they do," muttered Judy. For the next half an hour, they continued their discussions, while awaiting Spencer's call. And then, the phone rang second time that evening.

"Hello?" Judy said as picking it up and switching to loudspeaker.

 _"_ _Hello, Judy. I hope I gave you enough time?"_ Asked Spencer Young politely.

"Oh, excessively," assured the bunny. "We agree to the deal. We turn in to ZPD, you release Kaylee," she declared.

 _"_ _I expected no less. Now, about the details. I want you to turn yourselves in at ZPD Precinct 1, precisely at 8 am tomorrow. About Crane, we will give you the detailed location of the trade tomorrow at 7.45. Is that fine?"_ The fox asked as if they had anything to discuss in the matter.

"You're the boss, Spencer," Judy said as carelessly as she could afford.

 _"_ _And now, about your friends, would you mind to introduce them?"_ Suggested Young.

"Oh, but of course," Jack grabbed the phone. "Agent Jack Savage and Agent Gwyneth Skye from Zootopia Intelligence Agency," the rabbit said and listened to the silence on the other side with a sly smirk.

 _"_ _Bayes. It's rutting Jack Bayes,"_ they heard Donovan's terrified voice.

 _"_ _How are you alive, you bastard?! You drowned!"_ Yelled Joshua. He seemed furious.

"Not quite," replied Jack calmly. "So, me and Skye will pick Crane from you. And yes, ZIA knows about this operation. Hurting Crane any further will only make your situation even worse," Savage replied with voice deprived of his previous amusement. He was deadly serious right now.

 _"_ _We don't intend any further harm to her,"_ Spencer replied unfazed. _"Wilde and Hopps turn in, we return Crane and everyone goes their own way."_

"Hopefully for you," Jack replied tersely.

 _"_ _For the details of exchange, I'll text you on this number. Until then, goodbye,"_ Spencer finished the conversation and hung up. The localizing device attached to Judy's throwaway phone didn't manage to specify their location to any useful range. Nick, Judy, Jack and Gwen looked at each other.

"So, exchange it is," stated Nick.

* * *

 _11.57 pm. Monday, August 26, 2020_

Spencer handed the second of phones to Gerard Greymane for him to get rid of the thing before police would locate them and he was left in the big empty room alone with Haddock's painting and his girlfriend. He watched her carefully; dressed in her favorite black biker jacket and tight jeans with her sly smirk and eyes of a wild tigress, she was beguiling beyond reason. Scarlet was dangerous, untamed beauty and Spencer knew that he would never get to control her. She couldn't live in a cage, but had to roam free across…

"You're fantasizing again," guessed the pronghorn stopping his train of thought.

"Just thinking of us," replied Spencer with a playful smile that disappeared almost immediately. "What's bothering you?"

"We need to discuss something," she stated, grabbing her knife and starting to play with it lazily. "They bother me."

"Jacobs and Morrows?" Guessed Spencer, but she shook her head.

"ZIA agents. We didn't consider such intrusion," Scarlet explained. Was she… worried? No, it'd be completely unfitting her. Scarlet never was worried. Concerned, at best.

"They don't change much. As neat as the plan was, Wilde would come out innocent eventually," shrugged Spencer helplessly. "It was just a smokescreen and worked better than expected."

"We could make it work better…" Scarlet threw the knife high up and caught it in the air. "If you had guts and made the decision finally," she pressed firmly and this time, her dark eyes would not stand a simple 'no'.

"We've discussed it a hundred times already," Spencer crossed his arms and spoke just as firmly as her, even if he realized his demeanor would never be even half as threatening as hers at the moment.

"The situation changed. ZIA's in, making the situation even more troublesome. The snitch at ZPD would buy us enough time, if those were only Wilde and Hopps, but now…" she pressed.

"Alright, what do you suggest?" Spencer decided to hear her out.

"We kill Wilde, Hopps, Crane and these two agents. Wilde and Hopps as a supposed car crash and we drop off Crane at the channel where they were supposed to find her after Wilde 'murdered' them. We kill ZIA agents anyhow we get to kill them. We'll buy at least couple days before they figure out…" she continued, still playing with her knife.

"No," Spencer refused. "We are not killing any of them."

"Why?" Scarlet demanded to know, as she caught the knife in midair and clenched her paw on it.

"I will not kill anyone innocent," explained the fox.

"I can."

"I will not allow it and the last time I checked, I was in charge," refused Spencer and they electrified each other with sights in complete silence for quite a moment.

"It can cost us our fortune. And lives," she stated coldly.

"Trust me, it will not," promised Spencer.

"You don't know that."

"Trust me," he pleaded in reply. Scarlet stared at him in ice-cold fury. He knew that sight. She was analyzing, making plans and calculations. And then, the cold of her eyes was gone. She smiled with surrender, hid the knife and approached him.

"Let it be," she whispered and kissed him on his lips. "I'll go for a ride, should be back soon."

"I'll be waiting," Spencer promised and she giggled.

"I know you will," she replied, already leaving the room. She grabbed the helmet, put it on and soon vanished behind another door. He loved her to death, but part of him already knew; she did not love him. She probably never did.

* * *

 _3.17 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

Kaylee could not sleep. For last four hours, she had been sitting at her bed, staring at the wall blankly. She wasn't scared, at least not strictly by definition. It weren't the harm that Spencer did to her, pain that Scarlet caused or the fear that Greymane induced that kept her awake. Kaylee simply realized that it could be the last night of her life. It was an unsettling thought; that she was going to spend the last night of her life here, in this cold, stinking place. That she was never going to see Max again. That someday, somewhere, he was going to find her cold dead body. That everything she could have done for him now that he needed her so much, would be causing even more suffering. It frustrated her so much she wanted to scream. Why now? Why when finally she had a point in her life and mammals that loved her? Why when she finally had found strength and motivation to not lie down and die, the life was not giving her any chances? Kaylee wanted to scream, but instead, she sang the songs from her family home. It was a habit of hers taken from her mother, just like all the cussing. It was something that helped her coping with extreme stress.

 _"Boli mnie głowa I nie mogę spać, _-_-_-_-_-_-_"My head aches and I cannot rest"_

 _Chociaż dokoła wszyscy już posnęli._ __-_-_-_-_-_-_ _"_ _Even though all the others are fast asleep"_

 _Nie mogę leżeć, a nie mogę stać,_ __-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ _"I can't lie down, neither can I stand"_

 _Mija ostatnia nocka w mojej celi._ __-_-_-_-_-_-_-__ _"_ _Last night in my cell passes"_

 _Tylko noc, noc, noc, płoną światła ramp,_ __-_-_-_-_ _"Only night, night, night, the lights burn"_

 _Nocny reflektor teren przeczesuje;_ __-_-_-_-_-_-__ _"A searchlight sweeps the area"_

 _Owo światło to, jak ja dobrze znam,_ __-_-_-_-_-_-_ _"Oh, how well I know this light"_

 _Nigdy nie gaśnie, ktoś zawsze obserwuje_ __-_-_-__ _"Everglowing, someone's always watching"_

 _Nie wiem czy wierzę jej czy nie wierzę,_ __-_-_-_-__ _"I don't know if I believe her or not,"_

 _Wierzę jej…_ __-_-_-_-_-_-__ __-_-_-_-_-_-__ __-_-_-_-_ _"Believe her…"_

„Is that Old World language? I didn't know you came from this far," interrupted her Spencer Young, as he locked the cell door behind himself. Kaylee passed her eyes over him. She had not a chance of beating him, wounded and tied up, crossed her mind.

"My mother's an immigrant. She taught it to us a bit," Kaylee muttered emotionlessly.

"What was it about?" Spencer asked curiously.

"A prisoner on his last night, wondering if his love is still waiting for him," Kaylee explained and then, watched him carefully. "And you? No rest for the wicked?"

 _"_ _No sleep for the sick! Been stayin' up too late… Draining out the chemicals, trying not to make mistakes!"_ Spencer sung and then, both of them chuckled, even if bunny did so only out of stress. As Kaylee stared at the fox leaning against the wall, for a second, she saw in him the boy she remembered from the old days. Cheerful, full of hopes and absurdly charming fox that she kept looking up to. Spencer was her first crush and it was him from whom she stole a first kiss; something she never really regretted, maybe until now.

"What had become of us?" She asked rhetorically. She remembered too well. Someone saw her kissing him. Everyone started shunning Kaylee for her canine tendencies and Spencer did the reasonable thing; stepped aside, hoping it would protect her at the slightest. And when it failed, Antiery spread his protection around Kaylee and Spencer fell in Scarlet's paws and both their paths lead them astray.

"World happened," Spencer replied gloomily and she saw regret in his eyes.

"And tomorrow, you're going to kill me," added the rabbit.

"I'm not," Spencer refused firmly. "I would not let Scarlet or Greymane hurt you," he promised, but saw the distrust written all over her face. "You don't believe me, obviously."

"Why should I? I saw all your faces and Haddock's painting. There's no way…" she argued.

"It's not about money," interrupted her Spencer.

"Then what is it all about? What's your point?" Asked Kaylee. Young hesitated only for a second. And then, he started talking and talking, explaining her everything. Kaylee realized that she was probably the first mammal that was hearing it. Not even Scarlet knew any of it. The painting, money, Donovan Jacobs… none of them mattered to Spencer. Just means to ends. When he finished, Spencer was still leaning against the wall, but now with his head hung down shamefully. Kaylee hopped off her bed and walked toward him. She looked the fox straight in the eyes.

"I know I do not deserve your forgiveness…" he started and then, she hit him powerfully with her tied paws.

"You murdered my fiancé's father. You do not deserve to even speak of forgiveness," she interrupted him, staring at the fox coldly. And then, her paws started to shake and eyes grew watery.

"All this… You could have stopped all of this, Spencer. If you only came to me, talked with me, we…" She was crying now. "We could have fixed it all, you stupid, stupid fox!" She yelled at him, but Spencer just looked away.

"I know you'd understand and comfort me, but I didn't want understanding or comfort," he finally spoke. "I made my choice, Kaylee. I want the city to hear me out and I want those guilty to pay for what they had done," he explained.

"By murdering them," Kaylee pointed out coldly. "You could have brought Max's father to justice in so many ways and…"

"Like Wildes tried? Or like my father did?! No, Kaylee, I cannot take chances," he disagreed.

"Like you aren't taking chances now. You'll spend rest of your life in prison, Spencer."

"I won't," he replied immediately. "But I've said enough. Goodnight, Kaylee. See you tomorrow," he finished the conversation and reached for the cell door.

"Spencer?" Kaylee called him.

"Huh?"

"You're a sad, sad fox, you know?" She said and he smiled gloomily.

"Maybe I am, but I finally have a purpose," he shrugged and left. For a moment, Kaylee stared at the cell door. Did she believe that he meant no harm to her? Yes, even after how he kidnapped him. Whole that fight was a mess he certainly wanted to avoid. This meant that she was safe or at least that if everything went according to the plan, she was going to be released tomorrow safe and sound.

If only everything were to go according to the plan.

* * *

NOTE:

Kaylee's song is "Ostatnia Nocka" (Last night) by Yugopolis and Maciej Maleńczuk

Spencer's Young is "Fox and Hound" (Oil in the WAter version) by I the Mighty

Both can be found on Youtube


	16. Last night's stand

_11.12 pm. Monday, August 26, 2020_

Frederick Thunders, the Chief Technology Officer of Reynolds Industries, couldn't sleep that night. He watched the city of Zootopia through window of his luxurious apartment in the very center of Downtown with glass of whiskey in paw and a gramophone playing in the back. He was most troubled; it had been almost a week since death of his best friend Thomas Reynolds and theft of his documents. Whoever did it, they've had enough time to study them and do with them whatever they wanted; publishing, sending to ZPD or blackmailing him or Reynolds family. And yet, nothing like it had happened.

"What are you waiting for?" He asked himself while sipping the drink. And then, his phone called; it wasn't the private or office one, but the one for all sorts of not entirely legal contacts. He recognized the number and picked it up immediately.

"Report," he demanded.

" _Terence Okami and Jake Rockfield were arrested couple hours ago."_

"How?"

 _"_ _They followed Hopps to house of a fox named Spencer Young. It seems like he's the real murderer. Hopps was taking her time and they grew suspicious to the point they charged inside and the fight occurred. And then, Lionel O'Dyna interrupted them knocking your boys out,"_ explained the informer and Fredrick Thunders felt chills down his spine. He recognized that name.

"Duchess' right paw," he muttered.

 _"_ _Yes, sir,"_ confirmed the voice. _"I didn't see much from the outside, but Duchess herself came eventually too. She and Hopps started negotiating, I think Hopps was trying to persuade her to leave your boys to the ZPD. They finally struck the bargain and…"_ the informer hesitated.

"And?" Demanded to know Thunders.

 _"_ _And Duchess left the house with lots of documents. Hopps called cops and had them arrested under B &E charge, but they also found an empty briefcase," _he explained and Frederick Thunders froze for a moment.

"Duchess has the documents?" He asked fearfully. It was probably the worst conclusion he could imagine. "She has the rutting documents?"

 _"_ _Yes, sir,"_ confirmed his caller.

"What Precinct arrested them?"

 _"_ _Number One, Downtown. Some old sheep named Barnes and a tigress, Fangmeyer. I don't know where Hopps went. I lost her after some desert vixen picker her up,"_ he informed his boss and Thunders cursed again. It was getting worse and worse.

"I see. I'll call you with orders soon. Wait until then," demanded Thunders.

 _"_ _Yes, sir,"_ the informer confirmed again and Frederic Thunders hung up cursing loudly. If it was true, if Duchess had all the documents, then he had to react quickly or he'd be finished. The old elk browsed through his contact list and found a number of one mammal in Zootopia that could help him; Chief Blizzard from Tundratown ZPD, the one personally monitoring investigation of Reynolds murder.

 _"_ _Thunders? Why are you calling at such unholy hour?"_ Blizzard muttered angrily when he finally picked up.

"We've got a problem, Blizzard. You remember the Reynolds' briefcase?"

 _"_ _You mean his insurance in case you broke and tried to snitch on him?"_ Blizzard recalled.

"Just the one. Duchess just put her paws on its content," he said and for a moment, Chief Blizzard found no words to react.

 _"_ _Well then, you're screwed,"_ he finally replied completely uncaringly.

"I? Oh, no, Blizzard. We. We are screwed," corrected him Thunders coldly.

 _"_ _What?!"_

"Those are four hundred pages of dirt, Blizzard. Half of them is on Thomas and the other half on me personally, but there will surely be plenty of material for you between the lines. And if not, I'll gladly tell ZPD how you and Sullivan covered Wolf Pack's actions, especially Duchess' rape and murder of her…"

 _"_ _Rut you, Thunders! You said I was clean, that you were going to take care of this…"_

"And you said that you were going to arrest Thomas's murderer by yesterday," interrupted him Thunders angrily. "So we can keep whining and blaming each other or we can solve our problems."

 _"_ _What do you suggest?"_ Blizzard agreed reluctantly after a moment of awkward silence.

"Find the briefcase. Storm into Duchess' house, her Diamond and other clubs if possible. Oh, and her right paw, that fox with a fancy surname."

 _"_ _Lionel O'Dyna,"_ reminded him Blizzard.

"Precisely."

 _"_ _Under what charges?"_

"Assisting Wilde in escape after he murdered Thomas. We're going to get her this time and get rid of her for good. Her Happytown cops won't tip her off this time. Can you do it?"

 _"_ _I'll have the warrants by dawn. Are you sure Wilde murdered Reynolds?"_

"No. I know for a fact he didn't do it, actually. It was Spencer Young, another fox from Happytown. We need this one dead. Can you arrange that?"

 _"_ _I… I'll call Sullivan, mobilize other my boys, see if we can find him. But you have to arrange his death yourself, I'm not taking it on me."_

"My boys will take care of it. And if you find the documents, bring them to me. We are going to burn them together," demanded Thunders.

 _"_ _Sure thing."_

"Oh, and if you think you can keep any of those documents to blackmail me in the future…"

 _"_ _I don't feel like committing suicide just yet, Thunders,"_ replied Blizzard angrily and hung up. Frederick Thunders smirked. Duchess or Spencer Young could think they were ahead of them, but the game was already over; by the next dusk, Thunders was going to destroy the incriminating documents, have murderer of his best friend killed and Duchess meet the fate she deserved.

* * *

 _00.13 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

Joshua Morrows opened the third of beer bottles and handed it to Greymane who thanked with smirk of his yellow teeth. The pig then sat next to his boss, Donovan Jacobs, and looked around.

"So, is it just the three of us?" He asked. "What about Spencer?"

"Already sleeping. He looked pretty tired," explained the wolf.

"And Miss Scarlet doesn't seem to be joining us as well," noticed Donovan Jacobs.

"She chose a midnight ride instead," agreed Joshua regretfully and then, raised his bottle. "So, for tomorrow! And all the money we're gonna get!" He said and the three of them tapped their bottles and drank their cold beers.

"Ah… So good," Greymane said staring at the bottle with appreciation. "So, what are your plans for after the tomorrow? You know, when we have all the millions?"

"My sister's still in prison. I gotta break her out and then, we're gonna buy an isle or something and live there lazy life of millionaires, I guess," figured Joshua. "What about you, boss?" He asked not really expecting an answer, but his boss surprised him this time.

"It's time to retire. Art theft was fun as long as it lasted, now's time to move on," the raccoon decided.

"So, a solitary isle too?" Chuckled Joshua, but he shook his head.

"Something less spectacular," disagreed Donovan Jacobs. "And what about you, Gerard? Do you have any plans for the future? I was under impression you and Spencer would stay together," pointed out the raccoon.

"Nah, I'd be just messing with the lovebirds and I have my own plans. I gotta pick my boy up and we're leaving too," he explained them.

"You have a son?" Joshua asked with shock. Gerard Greymane seemed like the worst father figure in the world and he probably realized it, but he just shrugged.

"Ryan. He's eight or something," confirmed and reached for his beer. Seeing all the curious sights, he continued. "One night's love. His mother left him in an orphanage with my surname. I couldn't care less, but then I heard the boy holds quite a punch. I could make a fighter out of him," explained the wolf, sounding more like he cared about his unfilled ambitions than his son. Which was probably true.

"Sounds decent. You'll be able to take care of him once you have all the money," noticed Joshua barely hiding disgust with wolf's treating of his son. Greymane didn't notice, but chuckled.

"And how do you plan to take him out of here?" Wondered Jacobs.

"He's supposed to take an Express to Lake City and meet up with me in there next week," explained Gerard and emptied his bier. He hesitated, but didn't reach for another. Even he realized that they should stay sober for tomorrow. "I may not be a smartass, but I had it all figured out, don't you worry," assured Greymane. Donovan Jacobs and Joshua Morrows looked at each other; Greymane was the last thing they worried about at the moment.

* * *

 _00.55 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

Some nights Mrs. Sylvia Wilde just couldn't sleep. She'd have swept whole the house clean, done week's ironing, mended torn pillowcases of old Mr. Tchakovsky from 5th floor, grabbed the most boring book in her collection and, having read through quite a chunk of it, found herself not even remotely sleepy. On days like this, Mrs. Wilde would grab her coat and go on a walk through mostly empty streets of Happytown. As much as the rumor went of her district not being the safest one in Zootopia, on her numerous nightly wanders of last two decades she was never mugged. Maybe it was because she knew which roads to walk, maybe because everyone recognized and liked old Mrs. Wilde or maybe just out of pure luck; she did not know and she did not care either. And besides, in her nightly marches she usually quickly left the Happytown, heading north toward the Downtown. She already was on her favorite, trusted path.

That night, pavements were empty, but every now and then, a police car passed by. Old vixen thought for a moment that it was because of her son, but then she realized that there weren't half as many patrols here just few hours earlier. No, something else had happened. Something bad.

"What are you doing here, fox?!" Someone yelled from behind her back with hostility, but old vixen ignored the drunken call. Even if it happened once in a while, it usually was nothing worth paying attention to. And then, she felt a half-full can of beer hitting the back of her head and cold drink spilling over her back. Mrs. Wilde stopped and slowly turned around to see three high, well-built mammals in early twenties, probably some university football players; a coyote and two deer. All of them laughed, two still holding their beers.

"Oh, look at her, she looks pissed!" Laughed the taller of deer with no beer in his paw, but wearing sunglasses, "stylish" brand cap and loose jeans. The essence of a jerk. The three of them walked over to her and Mrs. Wilde realized that confrontation was inevitable. She checked for the pepper spray in her back pocket. It was right there.

"Boys, I'm hurrying home, I really can't…" she apologized and tried to continue walking, but all three of them stood in her path and blocked it.

"The Fox District's the other way, red!" Yelled at her the coyote. "Hey, maybe we should take you there, huh? Your kind shouldn't be creeping around in the dark."

"Killing decent citizens," the jerk-deer spitted right at her foot.

"Yeah!" Agreed the other deer drunkenly.

"I can come back on my own. Thank you, young gentlemen," she replied, threading her words carefully. How pathetic. If it was just one of them, he'd be already lying on the ground squealing and covering his eyes from pepper spray. With the three of them, all she could do was excuse herself and walk away hurriedly.

"Hey, hey, hey, slow rutting down," the jerk deer caught her by collar and pulled back with a giggle. "You think we're stupid? We're gonna let you go and you'll be still walking around doing your foxy mischief…"

"Like killing Reynolds!" Yelled the drunk deer.

"Shut up, Larry," the jerk ordered and turned back to her. "No, no, no. We walk you home, fox. You cool with that?"

"Boys, I really…"

"Ha, look at her!" The coyote pushed Mrs. Wilde against a wall and stood with his face just few inches from hers. "Look at that cheeky fox, thinking that she's so clever and that she can out-talk us! Not today, though! Coz today, we're gonna walk you home, fox, and you're gonna thank us nicely for it. OK?!" The coyote snarled at her with his sharp teeth just a few inches from her face. Mrs. Wilde was holding her paws seemingly casually, but protecting her throat, terrified of what these drunk three could do to her.

"Well, when you put it that way…" She started, but coyote just snarled angrily interrupting.

"OK?!" He was going to catch her by throat, but Mrs. Wilde was quicker. Old vixen grabbed his paw, reached for pepper spray and released it right in coyote's face from far less than recommended safe distance. He yelped dropping her and Mrs. Wilde kicked him in side of his knee letting him fall on the ground. The smaller deer tried to hit her, but he was so drunk he missed her completely and hit the wall instead, cursing and waving his paw ridiculously. But Mrs. Wilde had no time to watch him dancing though, as the jerk deer was already jumping over to her and hitting her right in side of head. The vixen swayed and took a few steps back breathlessly, but before she could react, deer knocked the pepper spray out of her paws. Old vixen raised her arms trying to defend herself and she blocked the first blow, but the other one struck her right in muzzle. The world spun and she fell to the ground. She then felt a powerful kick to her abdomen that made her curl up and squeal pathetically.

"Ha! Look at that…" The jerk laughed trying to kick her again, when Mrs. Wilde bit into his leg. The deer screamed painfully, slipped and fell on the pavement. He tried to shake or kick her off, but couldn't hit her head and she was still holding him with her jaws locked. And at that moment, red and blue lights illuminated the street.

"ZPD! Freeze!" Ordered a bear jumping out of his car with tranquilizer prepared. Mrs. Wilde dropped the deer.

"She bit me, officer! That freak bit me!" Yelled the jerk, crawling away from the vixen hurriedly. Mrs. Wilde slowly lifted herself and sat on the ground squealing pathetically. Her stomach and muzzle hurt really badly. Two officers, a bear and pig, looked at each other.

"Handcuff them all, I'll call the ambulance," suggested the pig. The bear nodded and handcuffed all four fighters and sat them at the curb. When none of them resisted anymore, he began to question them.

"Alright, what happened here?" The bear asked, looking at Mrs. Wilde.

"Those three boys stopped me as I was on a walk. I tried to dismiss them politely, but one of them, the coyote, forced on me and tried to choke me. I had to fight them back. First with pepper spray and when that boy knocked me off and started kicking, with what I had left," she explained humbly, but she knew that blood on her teeth wasn't helping.

"She bit into my rutting leg! She attacked us first!" Protested the jerk deer.

"Yeah! Rut foxes! Woo!" Shouted enthusiastically the drunk deer, raising his paws in the air and falling on his back. Both coyote and the other deer watched him awkwardly.

"Shut up, Larry," they said simultaneously.

"Alright, boys, so what did happen according to you?" The bear asked, pretending that never happened.

"Oh, we were making our way back from the downtown, when the fox appeared. She came over and elbowed me and Paul as passing by us. We stopped her and told her to show some manners, but she just laughed at us, so Paul pushed her to the wall… I admit, a bit too strongly, but he was angry and she was cheeky. So when Paul asked her to apologize, she sprayed him right in the face! And then, when I knocked it off her paws, she bit into my leg like some savage and rutting didn't want to stop! Do you see this?!" The jerk showed police officer his injury. "She rutting bit into my leg!" He yelled and the bear watched questioningly Mrs. Wilde who was still holding her abdomen painfully.

"Yes, that's totally what happened. I, a lady in late fifties, single handedly assaulted and nearly killed three sporty teenagers," the vixen muttered with frustration, trying to withhold the pain of her belly. The bear stared at her carefully.

"Your sarcasm is out of place, Mrs. Vixen," he noticed.

"Just like suggestion that you might be buying an ounce of their crap," replied Mrs. Wilde and squealed with pain. "Sir," she added after a moment.

"Come on! That fox had it coming! The kinds of her shouldn't be walking our streets!" Yelled the drunken deer. "Yeah!"

"Goddammit, Larry… Just shut up," both his friends ordered him and the police officer watched them carefully.

"OK… I guess we'll subsume it under hate crime at this rate. Klein, what's the status?" The bear asked his partner.

"Ambulance is on the way. What do we do?" Replied the pig officer.

"Take them to hospital, patch them all up. There are jam cams around here, they should tell us what happened in here," noticed the bear. "Alright, everyone, we're taking you to hospital just in case. Expect a long night," announced the bear to them with a deep sigh. He seemed even less excited about it than them.

* * *

 _2.36 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

The night was long indeed. First, an awkward ride to the hospital with three youngsters that attacked her. Then, half an hour of waiting for the doctor, a short visit there that verified her state as non-threatening, checked her for any transferable diseases and ended with suggestion of putting ice on her jaws to ease the pain. Later she was taken to a police station for a short questioning by the same bear police officer that found them. And then, she was luckily free to go.

"Do you have any money for taxi, Mrs. Wilde?" Asked the bear officer named Cavers, as she finally got to learn. The vixen shrugged.

"No, sir. I don't carry money on my midnight walks," she refused.

"OK, I'll drive you home, then," the bear decided taking her to his police car. Mrs. Wilde sat at passenger's seat and watched the officer write her address in GPS. He must have remembered it from the questioning. How thoughtful of him.

"Thank you, officer."

"To serve and protect, Mrs. Wilde," replied the bear and sighed deeply like someone very, very tired. "What a night," he said, as departing from the parking.

"So, what's my situation?" Asked the vixen uncertainly.

"Between us? It looks like they really assaulted you," the bear admitted and Mrs. Wilde barely stopped herself from a sarcastic response. Everyone seemed to be testing her patience recently. "Their confessions didn't stick together one bit while yours was consistent. And camera recordings confirm your version of events. There will be a short trial, but I wouldn't be too worried at your place."

"Didn't I exceed the bounds of self-defense with biting?" Worried the old vixen, but bear shook his head.

"No, given there were three of them," he said. "But those cameras really saved your tail. If not for them, you'd be spending a night in cell like these three. At least a night. Biting is always the last resort, Mrs. Wilde."

"It was," confirmed the old vixen.

"And it was very reckless of you to wander around at time like this."

"Sorry, sir, but that's the way I am. Nocturnal. And in last twenty years, I had not a single incident like this," she explained.

"Maybe, but I didn't mean just any night," he shook his head and seeing her curious sight, continued. "I meant that while whole that case with Reynolds and your son is viral, foxes really shouldn't be sticking their heads out," he warned.

"Why?" Mrs. Wilde asked with surprise. Was she missing something?

"It's awkward to say, but… but whole this case? It's bringing out the worst from Zootopia. You might have missed it living in Happytown, but in other parts of town it's transparent. News keep saying how Reynolds was a wonderful philanthropist and Wilde killed him. So what people tell each other? That Wilde is a murderer. And if even Wilde, paragon of all foxes in Zootopia, is evil…" The bear paused meaningfully.

"Then all foxes are," finished for him Mrs. Wilde.

"Precisely," agreed Officer Cavers grimly. "I don't say everyone thinks like that, this kind of thinkers are minority in fact, but… it's a loud and vivid minority, Mrs. Wilde. Kids like these three, finding fun in beating foxes because they're evil or something? We had quite a number of hate crimes this weekend already and the more this thing will prolong, the worse it will be. And that kidnapping that's going to go viral tomorrow won't help you one bit."

"Kidnapping? Is that why there are so many patrols around recently?" Sylvia Wilde asked and the bear nodded.

"Yes, I was checking streets looking for that poor rabbit when I saw you," he confirmed and, seeing vixen's curious sight, continued. "A brown bunny in her twenties, rather tall and thin. Last seen wearing long black dress at the parking by Lycamore Street. To spice things up, she's one of us. A cop from Precinct 1," he explained and then, Mrs. Wilde realized who he was talking about.

"You mean Kaylee Crane?" She asked, terrified.

"Yes, how do you… Ah, of course, you're Nick Wilde's mother," he realized. "To make things worse, it looks like it was a fox that attacked her and…" he interrupted in the middle of sentence realizing that the old vixen wasn't listening to him, but watched the car that had just passed by them. "Something's wrong?"

"Can you stop that car?" She asked. The bear nodded, turned around utilizing both sidewalks and caught up with the red, sporty car. With a single whistle of sirens, he had him pull over and Mrs. Wilde got out of the car and ran to the driver, only confirming her fears.

"Max? Boy, what are you doing out there?" She worried. The wolf looked tired like death, dressed in a messed up suit with no jacket. He seemed terrifyingly hollow. The wolf kept watching the street blankly in silence and for a moment, she thought he'd say nothing.

"They took her, Mrs. Wilde. I thought… I thought I could go and try looking for her. It's the least I can do," he confessed quietly. The bear officer joined them, watching both curiously.

"Is everything alright?"

"He's my friend. He'll drive me back home. OK, Max?" Pleased the vixen and the wolf nodded barely visibly.

"Please get in, Mrs. Wilde," he invited her in.

"Thank you, Officer. Good night and good luck," the vixen turned to the bear as she walked over to the passenger's door of Max's car. The bear nodded, bided goodbye to the two of them and got back to his car. Mrs. Wilde sat next to Max and he started the engine again.

"Going back home, Mrs. Wilde?" Reynolds asked.

"Yes, thank you," she replied politely, unsure how to start. They kidnapped Kaylee Crane. They, whoever they were. Whoever was that fox, that is. What could she say at such a time? She was just looking out the window, as Max Reynolds was making his way through Happytown slowly.

"Out there so late? Something happened, Mrs. Wilde?" Max asked after a while, dispersing the silence finally.

"I've been assaulted coming back home," she explained. "It feels as if whole the city was spinning off into madness, doesn't it? I don't recognize it anymore."

"Me neither, Mrs. Wilde," he replied. For a few minutes more, none of them said a word. And then, Max stopped at a familiar street. "We're here."

"Come inside, Max. You're exhausted."

"I have to find Kaylee."

"You won't help her crashing your car and you're barely awake," the old vixen argued. Max hesitated for a moment and then, sighed deeply.

"You're right," he parked and killed the engine. It sounded almost dreadfully, as if he was admitting his own failure.

* * *

 _3.28 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

Max Reynolds wanted to continue the search, but the old vixen mercifully treated him to a soporific tisane and now had him sleeping on the coach in the living room. Mrs. Wilde covered him with a blanket, took his half-full cup to the kitchen and washed it. She then came back to the living room with another cup in her paw and watched the wolf pitifully. He was whining and twitching nervously, hugging onto a cushion desperately. She could only imagine what nightmares he was enduring now, dreaming of his fiancée.

"What insanity," Mrs. Wilde said to herself. She still remembered the two of them sitting on that couch along with Nick, Judy and all the other officers that solved the case of break-in to Zootopia National Bank. She remembered them all joking and laughing, celebrating their victory. On that distant evening, Max Reynolds accompanied her at the balcony just behind her back and under her encouragement, he swore to himself that he would not ever let any harm come to Kaylee. And now, he didn't even know if she was still alive. Nick and Judy were gods only know where in gods only know what state. The city, slowly but inevitably, seemed to be circling back to the hateful point of the Nighthowler crisis. And this time, some scary voice in the back of Mrs. Wilde's head was telling her, that there could be no returning to what used to be.


	17. The angel and the beast

_4.36 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

On the night when Technical Officer Kaylee Crane disappeared, Officer William Osbourne, a wolf from Happytown ZPD, was patrolling the streets of his district together with his newbie partner Ivan Riverton. Since the news reached them, the two of them spent whole night looking for any suspicious foxes, wounded rabbits or any suspicious activities, but to no avail. Listening to helpless reports from the other patrol cars was even more frustrating than their own failure.

"It's hopeless," muttered Osbourne and his rhino partner gave him concerned sight. "What?"

"You care too much," judged him the rhino. It was funny hearing such words from a rookie. It should be working the other way around, wasn't it?

"I just want to find the rabbit. She's someone's fiancée, you know," muttered Will and realized he only confirmed rhino's worries. In the end, how could a widower remain cool with such a case on his head?

"Take a nap. You're tired," suggested Riverton. Osbourne muttered something with annoyance, but complied. Wolf made a pillow out of his jacket, lied in his seat comfortably and closed his eyes while listening to the police radio reports of…

* * *

 _…_ _and the sun was shining bright when Will lifted his and his wife Emily's bag and put it on the bottom of the trunk. He then placed there their seven-year-old son's rucksack and two other bags that belonged to Will's younger brother and sister._

 _"_ _Did you pack my phone charger?" Will asked his wife._

 _"_ _Yup."_

 _"_ _And my…"_

 _"_ _Sunglasses, camera and gift for parents. Everything's there," Emily assured._

 _"_ _Cool. Johnny, sit in the middle, your mom will sit with you," William Osbourne told his son. He checked if trunk closed properly, locked it and sat behind the wheel. His sister Jenna sat at the passenger's seat right next to him, while his brother, wife and son took seats in the back. With everyone in and all doors closed, he started the engine and left their driveway. Like every year, they were going for two-week holiday to their parent's village far in the east._

 _"_ _Long eight hours ahead," muttered Emily who hated driving, but Will just smirked. He loved cars. As a pup, he wanted to become a racer and often sped around his neighborhood with his buddies back in the teenage years. Eight hours were nothing to him. What he couldn't have known though, was that this time, their journey would end a lot earlier and more abruptly._

 _None of Will's dreams could bring back the exact moment of the catastrophe accurately. It happened somewhere in the Rainforest District. On a straight, long road, Will suddenly skid. Breaks, accelerator, clutch and the gearbox, he operated all the four of them instinctively, but to no avail. Within few short seconds car made a 270 degree turn, scratched a barrier with its back and was just about to escape back to its lane. And then, a 40-tonne truck hit them._

 _Afterwards, Will's memories were but flashes. Sirens. Ambulances. Paramedics. The car mutilated, contents of the trunk spilled all over a road. Two black bags; a small one for his son and big one for his brother. One ambulance taking away his wife, the other sister. Will himself, sitting in the middle of his little hell completely unscathed. Silence and shaking paws. Ride to hospital. 10.38 – time of his wife's death. Calling his parents. Twelve-hour operation of his sister's spinal cord. And then, the diagnosis._

* * *

"Osbourne!" Sudden shout from his partner woke the wolf up. Osbourne cursed and covered his eyes from blinding sunlight indicating that he had slept for quite a while.

"What?" He snarled.

"You've been muttering weird things. You alright?"

"Yeah, whatever. What time is it?"

"6.45. Chief asked us to go to Jennifer Tompkins' house," Riverton added and Osbourne shivered with excitement at the sound of the name.

"Is he ever sleeping?" He muttered. "Why to Duchess?"

"Some Tundratown guys want to search her house, brought up a warrant out of thin air. Chief wanted someone from our guys at the place too," the rhino explained.

"Tundratown, daring to mess with the Lady," Osbourne noticed scornfully and his partner chuckled. After their meeting with Duchess on Sunday, Riverton said not a word, but he knew what he was thinking. Osbourne just ignored it and seated himself more comfortably in his seat while closing his eyes. Everyone knew that he had a soft spot for the Duchess of Happytown, some of them even believed they knew why. Whatever, they could laugh at him or have their insinuations. They'd never know the real story of how William Osbourne met the Duchess.

* * *

 _…_ _the pain? How to live with burden of his family's lives at his back? How to cope with fact that he made it out of that crash unscathed? William Osbourne could not and eventually, found strength to put an end to it. That night, he found his way to one of those tall, empty bridges in Rainforest District. He walked over the railing and stood on the edge staring down. It was so dark and high he couldn't even see the dark waters roaring below._

 _"_ _That's it. Just drop and be done with it," he muttered to himself, but his heart was still hammering, much to his frustration. Why? Why couldn't he just do it? For last six months he had been driving himself crazy. He had killed his family. Unless he'd gather ridiculous amounts of money, he had sentenced his sister to a wheelchair till the end of her life. And somehow, he dared to make it out untouched. Therapy couldn't help him, neither could drinking. Each day on duty, he sought death until Chief suspended him, which finally pushed him here. Will wanted the guilt to go away. Why couldn't he just jump?_

 _"_ _It won't help anyhow. It never does," said a female voice and Will saw a snow-white wolf on the other side of the railing just next to him. She was like a fallen angel, standing there in her dark coat with a bouquet of colorful flowers in her paws._

 _"_ _Who are you?" He asked and saw the scar crossing her left eye. He should have recognized her at that moment. For some reason, he didn't._

 _"_ _Jennifer. And you?"_

 _"_ _Will," he replied and after a moment added, "What are you doing here?"_

 _"_ _My brother… He jumped a bridge twenty years ago. I've been coming here since then, leaving flowers here," she explained and Will stared at the bouquet._

 _"_ _Why here?"_

 _"_ _Because he probably jumped this bridge. They never found his body, so I can't know for sure, but I hope…" Jennifer shivered at sudden gust of cold wind. "That wherever this river carried my brother, it will carry my flowers to him," she explained and then, dropped the bouquet. Will followed it with sight until it disappeared in the darkness. He suddenly felt chill down his spine._

 _"_ _I… see."_

 _"_ _And what brought you here?" Jennifer asked after a moment of silence._

 _"_ _I killed my family."_

 _"_ _You're that cop, aren't you? The one that had a car crash," she realized._

 _"_ _Caused," Will corrected her angrily._

 _"_ _Do you believe that jumping will help your sister? She lives, doesn't she?"_

 _"_ _I have no strength to help anyone anymore," he confessed._

 _"_ _It will only cause more pain," Jennifer warned._

 _"_ _I don't care."_

 _"_ _Don't you really? Or don't you simply see a way to help?" She doubted._

 _"_ _And why do you care?! Why won't you just let me just jump, huh?!" He yelled at her._

 _"_ _Am I stopping you?" She riposted suddenly and Osbourne realized she wasn't indeed. If he wanted, he could simply lean over, drop and fall. She probably wouldn't even manage to catch him in time._

 _"_ _I just want you to know that things will only turn worse when you jump," she interrupted the silence finally._

 _"_ _And what could turn worse? My world has already ended, Jen," replied William._

 _"_ _As long as you live, you can still change the world, Will. Your end of world lies there, in those waters and nowhere else," she hung her head and looked down. Will shivered from cold and clenched the railing even stronger._

 _"_ _Bullshit," he snorted angrily, but she did not reply. "Do you hear me?! It's bullshit! Who do you think you are, coming here and telling me how to live my life?! Just because…" and then, Will gesticulated so violently that he dropped the railing with both paws and slipped. But before he fell, Jennifer jumped toward him and caught him hugging his chest and wrapping her legs around the railing so they wouldn't fall over with him. Will hugged her instinctively. He feared the fall and hated himself for this thought._

 _"_ _Me? I'm just a stupid girl that lost her brother because she couldn't recognize pain consuming him. I'm a greedy idiot that lost her husband because she thought she could conquer whole the world without paying the price. I'm just a stupid girl from Happytown, Will, but I know that much; when you drop me, only then will it be the end of your world," she told him and William hugged her even stronger. Warmth of her body was awfully comforting._

 _"_ _Jen…"_

 _"_ _I can drop you, Will. If you really want me to, I can let you go. But if you can think of a single reason to live, then please, let us walk down this bridge together," she pleaded. Will stared down in the dark and suddenly thought of his sister._

 _"_ _Help me," he begged. Jennifer lifted him back with all her strength and together, they returned on the dark asphalt of the bridge. She waited for him patiently to cry all his tears out. She guided him to her car then house to warm up and listened carefully to his history. At the time he was finishing the story, he had already realized she wasn't just some Jennifer, but the Duchess of Happytown. But he never really expected what she'd offer: her best lawyer to fight for money from insurance and promise to cover the rest of the sum required for his sister's therapy. Duchess never mentioned that in return, he was selling his soul to her. She didn't have to. She had earned it the moment she helped him climb back on the bridge._

 _Everyone knew that William Osbourne adored Duchess. Some, including his sister, suspected that it was because she gave him money that allowed her to walk again. But none knew that on that night she saved his life. None knew that on that night, he saw Duchess not for the mobster of Happytown, but an angel she could be. And over the next decade, his adoration for her blossomed into…_

* * *

"Will!" Riverton woke up the wolf again. Osbourne snarled angrily.

"Huh?"

"We're at the place," explained the rhino.

* * *

 _7.02 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

To Lady Jennifer Tompkins, aka "Duchess", day had started with a usual alarm clock at 6 am. She took quick, cold shower, put on her favorite azure sleeping gown and walked down to the kitchen in order to prepare the breakfast for whole her family. Tompkins family didn't have any service, but split their house chores equally between the three of them. Lady Tompkins believed that would let her children develop discipline and respect for physical work like she had (even though the only physical work she had ever done was shoplifting TVs). But sometimes, when she was in particularly good mood, Lady Tompkins would do some delicious breakfast for whole the family and today was the day. Her son Alex, lured downstairs with tasty smells, acknowledged it with surprise.

"Did you kill someone yesterday?" He asked watching the final preparations suspiciously. All that he knew was that she returned late last evening and even when back home, returned up longer than he had, which really was unusual.

"No, I didn't. But I could have," she replied with a mysterious smirk.

"Was it Diamond-related?" He guessed.

"Not exactly. It was about your father," she explained. Now she had him really intrigued. Alex, just like his twin sister Olivia, knew about everything their mother had done about their father's death.

"You found his murderers?" Alex asked inquisitively. He might have not had a chance to meet his fathers, but he wasn't going to let go the scoundrels that killed him and hurt his mom.

"Let's wait for Olivia. I wouldn't want to repeat myself," she decided and at that moment, they heard ringing. Alex went to check it and saw at a surveillance camera four ZPD officers standing in front of the gate.

"It's police, mom," he stated.

"I've got it," Duchess assured and her son stood back while she took his place by the terminal. She recognized two officers; those were William Osbourne and his newbie partner Riverton. She still recalled their car control with sort of amusement. The other two were polar bears looking like they came from Tundratown, which gave her idea about what they were looking for.

"Are you lost, boys?" She asked through terminal half-jokingly.

 _"_ _We have a warrant, Mrs. Tompkins. Open the gate,"_ demanded one of Tundratown police officers.

"First I want to see the badges," she demanded and all four brought them to the camera. Only then did she open the gate for them. Duchess unlocked the reinforced front door and waited for them at the doorstep. There, she demanded a warrant and studied it carefully. The polar bears seemed rather annoyed with her meticulousness while Osbourne looked like he wished only to melt into the ground, but Duchess didn't bother with any of them. What really interested her was the warrant; it suggested Detective Sullivan found connection between Reynolds' murder and her, expecting to discover in her house Reynolds' missing documents. They obviously had a right to arrest her if they found any and it would be leaving her in an awful spot.

"And Sullivan didn't come here himself?" Duchess wondered and saw changes at faces of all the four. She must have accidentally struck an improper chord.

"He couldn't come," muttered one of polar bears while passing by the Duchess. Without her protests, they began the search.

"Olivia, Alex, guide officers around the house," suggested the Duchess while stopping Will Osbourne with paw. He froze for a second and then, glanced at her with his sight stopping at curvatures of her chest quite visible only under bra and sleeping gown. He then met her sight, blushed immediately and stared away like his life depended on it. Duchess chuckled.

"My eyes are here, Osbourne," she noticed with amusement. Luckily for him, she generally took such incidents more as a compliment than offence.

"Beg your pardon, ma'am. Reflexes," he explained himself awkwardly causing even more of her amusement.

"Keep them down a bit then and tell me what happened with Sullivan," she asked with a smirk.

"He had been found dead in Millennium Tower on yesterday evening. We don't really know what happened," explained Osbourne and Duchess realized suddenly that she probably knew more than they did. She only wondered how Sullivan had found his way to that place at that certain time.

"Do you think Wilde was involved?" She wondered.

"Hard to tell, but probably yes," confirmed Will after hesitation.

"And do you know how did I become a suspect in the case?" Wondered Duchess.

"Not sure myself," shrugged the cop. "The warrant came before 6 am from what I know, but I never saw the prosecutor working so fast. These Tundratown guys wanted to come alone, but Chief thought they can't be bossing around in our district like this, so he sent us."

"I'll have to thank him," said to herself Duchess and suggested him to join his friends, but it looked like the polar bears wanted to do the thing alone, as if not trusting their Happytown colleagues. They finished around 8.00 finding nothing interesting. One of the polar bears informed Duchess that she was expected at Tundratown ZPD around noon for further questioning and she promised to come. She then saw all four of them out. Immediately afterwards she called Lionel O'Dyna, her right hand, with a warning about police. She didn't worry much; even if they searched all her clubs and her men's houses, they'd never find the documents they were looking for.

"Do we clean mess they made first or can we eat?" Wondered Alex when she was finished with her phone call.

"Let's eat," decided Lady Tompkins without hesitation. The news she had for her kids were way too important to wait.

* * *

 _8.12 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

The four police officers left Duchess' residence. Osbourne opened the gate and walked through it followed by Riverton and then two Tundratown officers. In his weariness, he didn't notice lack of usual metallic sound when closing the gate. He saw the four suspiciously looking arctic mammals passing by them when they turned behind corner into a small alley where their cars were parked, but was too tired to pay them a single thought. After over thirteen-hour duty Osbourne was too sleepy to think of anything but warm bed.

"Riverton, call someone from daily shift to go to O'Dyna with Tundratown guys. We're calling it a day," he suggested. The rhino nodded with a smile. He couldn't dream of anything else.

* * *

 _8.16 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

The Tompkins family finally sat down to their breakfast when once again, none of them got to even bite the delicious meal awaiting when doorbell rang. Lady Tompkins sighed with utmost annoyance.

"I'll handle it," she declared standing up from the table. She walked to the terminal and checked the view on gate from the camera; there was a polar bear in police uniform standing in front of it, most likely one of those that had just come to her a moment earlier.

"What is it?" She asked with annoyance.

 _"_ _Awkward thing to admit, but I might have left my hat in your house, Mrs. Tompkins. I think I hanged it at chair in your son's room. If you could open the door…"_ he explained.

"Wait there, I'll bring it to you," she decided instead. "Alex! One of cops left his hat in your room! Go and grab it!" She ordered. Her son sighed deeply and rolled his eyes so ostentatiously his mother could hear him from the hall, but climbed the stairs and returned with a hat, throwing it to her and disappearing in the dining room yet again.

"And those guys are supposed to protect us?" He added, snarky as always.

"Well, they're not too bright," Duchess muttered to herself suspiciously. She grabbed a taser hidden in a cupboard next to her and hanged it on belt of her gown. Only then did she unlock the door lock and chain. She turned the doorknob and pushed the door when someone from the other side pulled it so forcefully it dragged her with it. A powerful blow of white paw threw her back into the hall and straight on the floor. A massive polar bear in tracksuit that was now standing in the doorstep lunged toward her, but she hit him with taser right at the throat. He roared painfully and fell on the floor next to her.

"Kids, run!" Duchess managed to yell before the other intruder, a snow panther, smashed her in head with something heavy, knocking her down. She then pinned Duchess to ground, disarmed her and sold her several solid hits to the head. In meanwhile, another intruder, an elk, passed by them and entered the dining room. Duchess knew her children wouldn't manage to run away, but they didn't try to. Like through mist she saw a ceramic plate slashing through the air and breaking at elk's face; he swayed, but didn't fall. A short fight occurred that she didn't see, but she soon learnt of its result; he had beaten them nearly to unconsciousness and tied them up, but paid for it with half of face covered in his blood. He then came over to Duchess and panther and opened the gate with terminal allowing the other polar bear to come in. Lady Tompkins watched him carefully. Even though he wore uniform, he wasn't one of the two that had been there just a moment earlier; most likely he wasn't even a police officer.

"What happened?" The bear asked watching their electrocuted companion.

"She had a taser," explained the panther. The bear snorted, gestured panther to step aside and grabbed the Duchess; whole her world was still spinning.

"So that's the famous Duchess?" snorted the bear and threw her across the hall to the dining room. "We'll do it there," he decided. The elk and panther walked over to Duchess's kids, while the bear lifted her by throat and pressed against the wall. Duchess's sight focused on her children; they were terrified and looking up to her hopefully. She shivered; she had lost her husband like this. But not again. Not this time.

"You know what we came for," stated the bear, but she didn't answer. "Reynolds' documents, where are they?" He demanded to know. Blood from Duchess's jaws dripped at his forearm as she smiled grimly.

"If you want to know, you'll release my children first," she stated.

"No. First, the documents," the bear demanded. "Where are they?"

"Not here. Your police buddies have already checked it. And they can dig through every single of my clubs or subordinates' houses, but they will not find them," she replied confidently, still smiling.

"You're underestimating seriousness of the situation, girl," the bear pressed her throat harder. He could crush it if he only wanted.

"I'm not. You're here for the documents, but you need to kill me too. Since I have seen them, I could recreate their content. But my kids have nothing to do with it," the Duchess explained and realized that her children were staring at her with horror.

"Mom…" Alex tried to protest.

"Quiet," she ordered.

"Mom, you can't…" Olivia wanted to yell at her.

"Shut up, will you?!" She interrupted her abruptly and then, smirked reassuringly. "I've got it, kids. You just stay quiet." After that, none of them dared to protest.

"Touching. Now, where are the documents?" The polar bear repeated himself.

"You heard me. Release my children and then I will tell you. Only then," she stated. The bear stared at her coldly realizing she was not going to give up and then, chuckled as if he had come up with an excellent joke.

"Good thing you have twins, Duchess. Panterra, we can kill the boy. It should soften her up," decided the bear.

"No!" Duchess protested and kicked so violently she almost released herself, but bear held her too strongly. The panther lifted Alex in the air and reached for a knife hanging on her side.

"I'll ask for the last time. Where are Reynolds' documents?" The bear repeated his question and if this time he wouldn't receive a satisfying answer this time, there was going to be blood to be shed.

* * *

 _8.14 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

Ivan Riverton was driving his partner William Osbourne in silence interrupted by nothing but police radio. It was quite a rarity; the wolf was usually snoring, talking or turning the radio up, as if silence indicated physical pain to him. Or maybe was he simply afraid of being alone with his thoughts? Whatever it was, this time he was sitting without noise, just staring at the road blankly. As shortly as Riverton knew his partner, he could feel something was bothering him.

"Something's wrong?" Guessed the rhino.

"Call it a hunch, but I think we missed something back at the Duchess's place," the wolf explained surprising his partner.

"I thought you'd be glad we found nothing," he pointed out.

"That's not what I meant. We forgot something and it's slipping right past us," the wolf stated. He had it at the tip of his tongue and yet, he couldn't quite put a name on it.

"Well, her gate didn't close properly, I think," the rhino recalled casually and then he watched his partner's face turn from usual weariness to realization and then, pure horror.

"Turn back."

"What?"

"Turn back to Duchess. Now! And don't turn the sirens on," he demanded deadly seriously and Riverton, not questioning his orders, made a rapid U-turn and drove back to house of Lady Tompkins.

"What's going on?" He asked, while Osbourne was creating the picture of situation himself.

"Duchess… These guys… Someone wants those documents that Reynolds had, probably that elk from Reynolds Inc., Thunders. He sent Tundratown guys to her. When they found nothing, they left the gate open…" Osbourne started to explain, quite terrified.

"Thunders? What does he have to do with Duchess?"

"Quite a lot. She was taking over his business, so he murdered her husband. She then wiped his gang from Earth's surface and took over their clubs. Since then, they came to a silent, hateful armistice, but if she stole Reynolds documents… if Thunders believes she has them… He could have… Rut it…"

"Could have done what?" Riverton asked, but never received an answer.

"Stop here," the wolf demanded and they stopped a street away from Duchess's residence. They walked over to it and saw that the gate was closed. The wolf didn't hesitate long; he jumped over the fence and, followed by his partner, sneaked around looking through the windows until he saw a polar bear holding Duchess by throat and other two goons with her children.

"Three perps. Call back up and we're going in," he ordered. The rhino called for support with walkie-talkie and they came back to the door. It was locked.

"I think there were vines on the left. You could try climbing it," suggested the rhino and Osbourne agreed.

"Good idea. I'll try to get inside and you wait here and charge in on my signal. With a blow or two, you should be able to break through," the wolf suggested and, not wasting time, ran around the house and found the vines. He somehow climbed them to a window left ajar and managed to get inside what looked like Duchess's daughter's room. Osbourne unlocked his tranquilizer gun and left the room carefully. He approached the staircase and looked down; he could see an elk standing over Olivia Tompkins and a panther holding Alex with knife in her paw. The bear holding their mother was somewhere on the right from the stairs and beyond his reach, but there was no time to waste. The wolf lifted walkie-talkie to his snout.

"Now."

The powerful thud of rhino's crushing charge against the front door echoed throughout the house buying Will Osbourne couple seconds over surprised intruders. He ran down the stairs landing two darts at elk and panther's necks and aimed where he expected the bear to be, but then, a powerful blow of white paw knocked gun out of his paw and sent him flying through the dining room straight into a hanging TV. Osbourne yelped painfully while falling on the ground echoed by thud of Riverton's another failed try. He tried to lift himself as the mountain of white fur towered over him with a pitiful smirk.

"And who are you? Duchess's puppy?" Snorted the bear, but Osbourne replied nothing, terrified. So that was how he was going to die, he realized. Pummeled to death against a 50" TV.

At that moment, Will heard crackling noise and saw Duchess with a taser lunging toward the bear. The intruder grabbed her paw and crushed it making her drop her weapon. She kicked him in abdomen and released herself from his grip. The bear turned away from unthreatening Osbourne and focused on her, ignoring another unsuccessful try to break in from Riverton.

"The documents. Or I'll kill you and then, your brats," he demanded, but Duchess just spat blood at his feet. Osbourne realized she took this position only because it was placing her between him and her children.

"Come and try, punk!" She yelled with fury in her scream, fire in her eyes and claws unsheathed. Will Osbourne stared at her with utmost shock. He never claimed he knew the Duchess well, but he had seen most of his faces. He had seen an angel in her, charming and endearing. He had seen an official, polite and stoic. He had seen her as a Machiavelli's princess, daring and sly. He had seen most faces a mobster of Happytown should ever possess. But he had never seen her like this; as a cornered beast protecting her pups from the predator threatening them, even if this predator was twice her size. When bear attacked, she didn't step back, but jump straight into the fight. She danced around him with bloodthirsty precision, dodging most of the blows and landing as many as she could herself. In her frenzy not even the hits she took could do much but enrage her even further. With furious howl, bloody claws and jaws and her gown in shreds, the Duchess took on a desperate fight she was doomed to lose.

Even if so, Osbourne was still there and she had bought him all the time he needed. With bear's attention fully occupied, he managed to crawl the couple feet to where his gun lied. He reached for it, aimed and released three darts straight in bear's back. The intruder's moves slowed down noticeably and Duchess used that moment to hit him in the face and knock him out. And as he fell tranquilized, Lady Jennifer Tompkins was panting heavily dressed only in shreds of her blood-stained sleeping cowl. Before anyone managed to say a word, she swayed, leaned against a wall and slipped on the ground heavily.

"Mom!" Olivia screamed fearfully. Will Osbourne managed to stand up and untied her and her brother so they could take care of her mother. In meanwhile, he tranquilized the last bear, opened the door for his partner commenting on how expensive must have been the door reinforced this well and reported everything to the walkie-talkie. He then returned to the dining room where Duchess was alone again; her children had gone upstairs for fresh clothes and first-aid kit. Riverton politely turned his sight away from barely dressed lady, but Will couldn't release himself from her soul-piercing eye.

"You came back," Duchess said, as trying to cover her naked chest with crossed arms.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Why?"

"Riverton noticed that the gate hadn't…"

"That's not what I asked about," she interrupted him and he stopped in the middle of sentence. Of course that wasn't what she asked about. Lady Tompkins could be a respected entrepreneur these days, but she had started as a gangster and even today, she was keeping whole Happytown in check. She had a lot of enemies and even more mammals that would sigh with relief if she and her family had died. Some of ZPD included.

"I… Happytown needs you, ma'am. And it was you that saved my life, not Thunders or whoever sent these goons," William Osbourne explained. "I know most mammals forget the good deeds and remember their harms, but not me," he declared and then, saw her smiling with sympathy. He had seen that smile only once before; back at the bridge.

"Thank you, Will," she said and groaned painfully when she tried to move. "If you ever need anything, you know where to find me," she promised and Osbourne realized what she meant; he had paid his debt off. Not that it changed anything to him.

"Of course, ma'am," he returned the smile just before her children ran down with clothes and first-aid kit. From then, whole procession of mammals came through Duchess's house; police officers, paramedics, her men that had been tipped off when Riverton and Osbourne jumped over the gate triggering a silent alarm. But once again, the Duchess showed them all that she was not to be underestimated. Before eight hours passed, Lady Jennifer Tompkins had already left the hospital covered in bandages and aching, but not caring about it one bit; for today, she had an earthquake to incite.


	18. Coup d'etat

_00.49 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

To Scarlet Calveit, her lengthy rides through Zootopia on her old, trusted motorbike served as a way to gather her thoughts. This night she had a lot to reconsider, mostly revolving around her boyfriend. In the end, Spencer was a good guy. With all atrocities he had committed, he had strong sense of morality that most would find only misjudged understandably given his past.

Scarlet, on the other hand, had her moral compass set straight at herself; in her world, she was the greatest value. She could claim Spencer was second on the list, but even he was so meaningless to her it didn't matter in the end. That was the crucial difference between them, a one that Scarlet had realized since ever, but Spencer never did or never wanted to acknowledge. Eventually, it had to lead to a fall out and Scarlet had expected it to occur sometime after they get away with money, but now, with him protecting lives of Wilde, Hopps and Crane so actively, he was jeopardizing all of her plans. It was why, on her nightly ride, Scarlet finally made her choice and created a simple, yet satisfying plan. Now she had only to set things in the motion.

Luckily for her, when she returned to the hideout, Spencer was already fast asleep while Donovan Jacobs was not. She caught him in his room, just about to go to shower.

"Oh, Scarlet. You're back," the raccoon realized with surprise.

"If you don't mind," pronghorn's voice didn't carry a note of a question as she leaned against the wall.

"I don't," Donovan assured nonetheless. "What do you come to me with?"

"Do you think Spencer's plan has a chance to succeed?" Asked Scarlet. "Leaving Crane alive?"

"You surely hate that bunny, don't you? Even more than I do and she ruined my heist, not yours," pointed out Donovan Jacobs with a smirk, but she just snorted.

"Some people should just know her place and hers is not among the living. Could you answer my question?" Scarlet pressed impatiently.

"The plan should work given we stir enough chaos in ZPD with Wilde and Hopps' arrestment. I'm rather optimistic about it," he decided.

"But it would be better if we killed Crane?"

"That depends," Jacobs avoided a straight answer.

"And added Wilde, Hopps and those ZIA agents to the list?" Scarlet continued firmly and Donovan gave her most peculiar sight. He was personally interested in deaths of four out five mammals on Scarlet's list.

"I am all ears," he assured crossing his arms.

"With your help, I could arrange deaths of all the five. ZPD will find the truth sooner or later, but if things go right, they'll be blaming Wilde for Crane's death and won't be able to explain the others for a while. But I can't do it alone," she explained.

"Will Spencer approve the thing?" Donovan asked, but she could tell he was already sold on the general idea.

"He will not interfere. Leave it to me," assured the pronghorn. Donovan Jacobs pretended to hesitate.

"I need to know the details," he said finally and Scarlet introduced him to her plan. Having heard it out, Jacobs suggested couple adjustments, but approved the overall idea eagerly. With raccoon's blessing, all Scarlet had to do was making a simple phone call, going to one of her father's storehouses for tools to take care of ZIA agents and preparing two certain locations for tomorrow. With that, the machine was set in the motion irrevocably.

* * *

 _05.49 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

Even though he only slept two hours, Spencer Young woke up as early as always. He checked if Kaylee was still sleeping and went outside for his usual morning walk, but this time Scarlet surprised him and joined the fox. She seemed much more rested than him.

"Can't sleep, huh?" The fox asked and his girlfriend shrugged.

"I'm a bit nervous," Scarlet admitted as rarely and grabbed her boyfriend by paw. Spencer smiled weakly accepting the gesture with pleasure, even if hindered by doubt; she rarely acted like this and most often when she wanted something. But she said nothing and instead, they went for a walk. They went a path Spencer had discovered couple days earlier that led through trunk of a thick, collapsed tree. It was forbidden given how easily was it to slip, fall and die from there, but wasn't it how their life worked recently anyway?

"I've found a house," Spencer interrupted silence suddenly and realized with satisfaction that he had her attention fully as rarely. "If everything works out and we get away, we could buy it and live there."

"Where?" Scarlet wondered.

"In the Old World. Southern coast, a villa by the sea. I've seen only photos, but it looks amazing and affordable," he explained. "You like hot, don't you?" The fox asked hopefully and she nodded.

"I do," she agreed, bringing out the kindest of smiles in her arsenal. "Oh, I'm so excited."

"Today's the day," agreed Spencer. "With Wilde and Hopps arrested, we will stir just enough chaos to get away with the money. And if ZIA guys don't try to pull off anything funny, no one will get hurt."

"You care a lot about Crane, don't you?" Scarlet noticed jealously.

"I don't want to hurt her more than I already did," the fox explained.

"Do you love her?" She asked inquisitively and he laughed. "What?"

"I don't!" Spencer kissed her on the cheek. "It's just… She's always been good to me. Darn it, she's always been both good and horribly mistreated. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I hurt her more. Do you know what I mean?" He asked, rather amused than disturbed with her suggestions, but Scarlet just snorted angrily.

"I don't," she replied and then, pushed him. Spencer stepped back, slipped and started falling from tree's trunk when, at the very last moment, Scarlet caught him. The fox looked behind his shoulder. It was a three-hundred-feet way down and she was the only thing stopping him from taking it.

"Scarlet, it's not funny," he said, slipping a bit more.

"Oh, am I laughing?" She asked grinning ominously. Spencer looked her deeply in the eyes and then, he understood everything. She wanted him dead. Not just yet, but very, very soon. She just had to make her point.

"Why?" He only asked, accepting his fate. She was not going to see him pleading and begging, like she liked her enemies.

"Because you're weak, inconsistent and stupid. You can't bring yourself to finish your job. You should have killed Wilde when you had a chance. You can't deal with that bitch, Crane. You jeopardize everything we've been working on for your whimsy…"

"I have principles. I will not kill a single, innocent mammal. And this far, everything worked according to the plan," Spencer interrupted her. She hated it, but didn't drop him. Not until she had the last word.

"A plan that was doomed to fail," she stated.

"You're so sure of it. So what, you're going to drop your boyfriend to death just because you disagree on his idea of stealing millions? Because you want to satisfy your inner demon and murder everyone involved?" He demanded to know.

"You overvalue yourself, Spencer. I never loved you."

"I know," he replied infuriating her even more, but honestly, he wasn't fighting for his life there, only pride. He was doomed since the moment she pushed him. "You simply recognized my value."

"Correct. And up until yesterday, I thought you wouldn't outlive your usefulness any time soon. But boy, do the times change," she grinned, enjoying the moment. "Now you're but a hindrance. And with you being such, I have no other choice than to… dump you." And at that moment, Scarlet dropped his paw. The fox leaned back even further and then, began to fall. Despite her hopes, he didn't scream or wave his paws in terror; he just stared at her judgingly with blame that would haunt any weaker soul till the end of their days. And even if Scarlet remained seemingly unfazed, she didn't watch him fall and die, but turned around and walked away.

"How heartless," noticed Donovan who appeared right behind her after she walked off the trunk.

"He had it coming. We'd better go before police starts looking for where he fell from," she suggested emotionlessly. The raccoon watched her carefully, half-expecting her to be at least nervous having just killed her boyfriend, but Scarlet Calveit remained completely unfazed. It really disturbed Jacobs and only reinforced him in his intentions.

* * *

 _07.46 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

The ZIA agents revised with Nick and Judy on their plan for one last time, wished them good luck and provided Jack's car for sake of getting safely to police station of ZPD Precinct 1. They got to Downtown in less than fifteen minutes and from then, Judy was driving around the place, always in no more than five minute proximity to the actual station. Nick was holding a phone with the loudspeaker turned on; on the other side, Jack and Gwen were reporting.

 _"_ _We just got the location and you won't believe it; it's Watering Hole Port yet again,"_ Jack said with a chuckle. _"Donovan must have learnt nothing."_

"It was a good location; easy lookouts, rather empty for most of the time. It was just you that threw it, Jack," pointed out Nick mockingly.

 _"_ _It's not wise to offend a guy holding only credible proof of your innocence,"_ reminded him Jack Savage. _"We'll be at the place in a moment."_

"Got it," Nick replied. "Anything suspicious, Carrots?"

"Nothing, I'd say. You've never been arrested, have you?" She asked and Nick watched her carefully.

"No, I haven't. Why, are you nervous?" He asked and she shrugged.

"It's stupid, but yes, a little bit. You know, I've always been trying to act by rules and now we're going to get arrested," she said and smiled awkwardly.

"The things we do for friends, right?" Nick replied with a smirk.

 _"_ _Don't worry, it's not that scary,"_ promised Jack, the only one of their four that had actually been watching world from the wrong side of cell bars.

"Thanks," Judy muttered.

"And besides, it will be a day or two before Jack and Gwen clear everything up," added Nick enthusiastically. "Where are you guys?"

 _"_ _Almost there,"_ assured the rabbit.

* * *

 _07.52 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

Jack and Gwen entered the Watering Hole Port at the same, unsupervised gate Donovan Jacob's gang had the previous time they were making a trade. He looked around and for a second, quite sure that he saw someone watching them from the distance.

"Was that Morrows?" Guessed Skye and he nodded.

"I suppose," confirmed Jack a bit uncertainly. "We'll be making the trade in front of that hangar. Do you think you'll find any position to cover me here?" He wondered, but she shook her head.

"Not with a sniper rifle. Drop me off here, I'll find a spot on the ground," Gwen decided. Jack stopped for a second and she jumped out of the car and watched him drive away to the meeting place. Vixen didn't waste time, but ran between the containers and walked around the hangar on path parallel to the one of Jack's car. From a safe, concealed spot on the side, she could see both Jack's van parking right in front of the van and kidnappers' jeep that appeared a minute later. She prepared gun; taught by events from Millennium Tower, this time they brought a long distance stun gun. Greymane could be resistant to the usual sedative, but old good electric shock should solve the problem.

"We're at the trade place. They came," reported Gwen to Nick and Judy on phone.

 _"_ _Understood. We'll keep close to the station from now on,"_ fox confirmed.

 _"_ _Where are you, Skye?"_ The vixen heard Jack's voice in an earpiece.

"On your right, somewhere in the middle," she informed him and watched Spencer's group leaving. There were only four of them: Donovan Jacobs, Scarlet Calveit and Gerard Greymane carrying Kaylee Crane. The bunny looked beaten up and had her mouth sealed. Gwen could see terror in her eyes, which was alarming. She didn't look like someone they were going to simply trade away.

"Something stinks," the vixen stated looking around for the missing two.

 _"_ _I know,"_ Jack replied to her earpiece and then, turned to the kidnappers. "It wasn't part of the deal. You weren't supposed to hurt her anymore," he pointed out loudly. Scarlet Calveit just giggled and shrugged, as if saying: _"Just a girl thing."_

"It's good to see you too, Jack," replied Donovan Jacobs bitterly. "You were supposed to be dead."

"Jack Bayes is dead, Mr. Jacobs," the rabbit stated firmly. "And besides, I find it unimportant at the moment. We're here to conduct the trade," he reminded them. Gwen noticed someone dashing between containers on the other side. Certainly not a fox.

"Of course. The rabbit is yours when we receive confirmation that Wilde and Hopps have been arrested," Scarlet confirmed. "So, Jack, where is your girl? Skye, was the name?" She asked curiously.

"Right where Morrows is, watching our backs," the rabbit replied evasively. Gwen stepped back and changed position. Something was off, way off. Why hadn't Spencer Young come to the place? Why had they hurt Crane despite Young's claims? And what was Morrows trying to achieve?

"Wilde, where are you?" She called the fox.

 _"_ _A minute away from ZPD. Why?"_

"They're trying to outplay us. Wait till I give you the signal," she ordered and fox confirmed. She then spoke to Jack. "Press on them. It's 8.00," she ordered.

 _"_ _Roger,"_ Savage replied to the earpiece and turned to the kidnappers again. "Wilde and Hopps are just about to enter ZPD. Return Kaylee, they'll turn in within a minute and we're all parting our ways," he demanded. Scarlet hesitated and asked someone silently on her own earpiece. A moment later, she shrugged with surrender.

"OK. Gray, you know what to do," she ordered the wolf. Gerard Greymane grabbed Kaylee by collar and lifted in the air. He didn't walk toward them, but was going to simply throw the bunny to them. And then, he turned around and tossed her back in the jeep.

"Why do you…" Jack tried to protest.

"Watch out!" Skye yelled to him instead and then the rabbit saw it; tied sticks of dynamite flying high above their van. Jack dashed away, but not fast enough. A massive explosion shook earth and knocked Skye off her feet and dropping her phone. Savage disappeared in the smoke of exploding van.

"Savage, do you copy?" Gwen called him with no reply. The vixen jumped back to her feet and returned to her hiding spot; she could see jeep driving away with three kidnappers and Crane. "Savage, do you copy?!" She demanded and then, stared at burning wreck of their van; thick, dark smoke of gasoline was rising from it in the air, but rabbit's body was nowhere to be found. Skye felt chills down her spine. Could he be…

"Jack, I beg you. Do you copy?"

* * *

 _8.01 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

Judy had practically driven by ZPD just a moment earlier, which was horrendous mistake out of nerves, but no one seemed to have noticed rabbit and fox passing by. As much as she hated to admit it, waiting was killing her. Nick seemed cool, but you could drop him in a lava pool and he'd claim he's cool, so it was an indicator of nothing.

"Don't worry, we've got this," he assured and Judy smiled weakly.

"Unless I cause a crash out of nerves and kill the both of us," she joked.

"I hope not. It'd suck," he stated with a smirk. And then, they heard Gwen.

 _"_ _Wilde, where are you?"_

"A minute away. Why?" He asked.

 _"_ _They're trying to outplay us. Wait till I give you a signal,"_ she ordered.

"Understood," Nick confirmed and turned to Judy. "Looks like they're not hurrying anywhere," he repeated, not too pleased.

"We'll keep circling then," the bunny was just as displeased. And then, they heard a police siren right behind them; a car appeared right behind their backs and another one appeared from behind a corner and crossed their path. Judy barely managed to break without hitting any of them.

"Skye, they got us…" Nick tried to report when he heard a massive explosion in the speaker. "Skye, are you alright?!"

"Out of the car!" Yelled someone and they saw a black panther aiming at Judy with her tranquilizer gun. Judy recognized her immediately; it was Victoria Hamilton, Sullivan's partner. "Out of the car!" She demanded again. At Nick's side, there appeared a wolf and polar bear, both in police uniforms.

"We're getting out," Judy declared while she killed the engine and Nick hung up. Both she and Nick unlock their seatbelts, lifted their paws in the air and slowly opened the doors. Hamilton then dragged Judy out of the car violently, pinned her against asphalt and handcuffed.

"You'd better treat her…" Nick tried to protest, but the wolf pressed him against the car locking him up as well. And then, they put a slightly oversized muzzle on his snout. Wilde tried to fight instinctively, but bear hit him in abdomen and tied the muzzle up.

"Hey, stop that!" Judy protested.

"Shut up, both of you," Hamilton snorted scornfully while she searched Judy. For some reason, she left the carrot pen to her. "Alright, let's pack them up and…"

"What's going on in here?" Asked a familiar voice. It was Riley Fangmeyer, a cop from Nick and Judy's precinct. She watched whole the scene suspiciously. "Why are you Tundratown guys in here?" She asked Hamilton.

"To arrest Wilde and Hopps, obviously," Victoria Hamilton explained arrogantly. "Alvarez, Ericson, pack them in the…"

"Nobody's packing anyone in anywhere," the tigress disrupted her orders firmly. "Not until you tell me how you guys happened to be around here just in time to find Wilde and Hopps," she demanded to know. There had gathered already quite a crowd of bystanders interested in both Wilde's arrestment and cops' confrontation.

"You're not a boss to me," Hamilton dropped Hopps and approached the tigress. For a moment, they were electrifying each other with sights until Hamilton looked away with surrender. "We'll take them to your station. I will discuss things with your Chief and then, I'm taking them with me," she subdued finally.

"That I can agree to," Fangmeyer nodded with approval and then, she saw how Wilde struggled with his muzzle. "And for goodness sake, take that off of him! What's he going to do, bite you?"

"He mauled Reynolds' throat," Hamilton ignored her advice. "Alvarez, pack them both to my car. Mrs. Tigress will go with you and Ericson," she ordered shortly and Fangmeyer didn't oppose anymore. Two officers assisting Hamilton led Nick and Judy to Hamilton's car. Judy turned to Fangmeyer.

"We need to help Kaylee, she's been…" She tried to tell her.

"We know," Fangmeyer assured and before bunny could protest or give her any other details, Tundratown cops pushed her and Nick into back of the car. Judy looked out the window; most of the bystanders were taking photos or calling their friends.

"I think I know what today's headlines will look like," Nick noticed with a bitter smirk. He tried to remain unfazed despite everything, but didn't succeed and Judy couldn't even bring herself to smile. They lost. Something went wrong in Watering Hole Port and they failed to rescue Kaylee. They didn't even know if Jack and Gwen were fine. And to top it, they were now stuck with Hamilton who was so fixed on her solution to the case, she refused to believe a word of theirs. Speaking of whom, the panther got back into the car and started driving the two of them to the police station.

"Kaylee Crane had been kidnapped by Spencer Young and his group. They were supposed to release her in the Watering Hole Port minutes ago, but something went wrong and…" Judy started, hoping that she'd get to her.

"Shut up, will you?!" Hamilton snarled at them. "You murdered my partner, kidnapped that poor bunny and now you're trying to…"

"It happened at the same time! How was I supposed to do it, huh?!" Nick protested angrily.

"There are two of you," replied Hamilton tersely and ignored their further arguments. Judy wanted to scream. Why was that panther so stubbornly dumb?

They reached the police station in couple next minutes. Hamilton and two other officers, supervised by Fangmeyer, guided them for their own walk of shame through the square leading to the police station. They walked slowly, letting everyone else watched Nick and Judy being led to the police station. Both of them stepped proudly, with their heads high and seemingly unfazed, even Nick in his muzzle. Fangmeyer watched everything in disgust and constantly hurried Hamilton.

When they reached the station, Fangmeyer shown Hamilton way to the cells and panthers took them straight to there. Judy and Nick passed by couple familiar faces, but didn't get a chance to tell anyone anything. Soon, they found themselves in neighboring cells of an almost empty cell block. When Hamilton locked the door behind them leaving the two of them alone, they both just stared at the walls blankly. They lost.

 _8.12 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

Officer Victoria Hamilton, having left Wilde and Hopps in their cells, went hurriedly to Chief Bogo's office. She knocked on his door and it opened right in front of her; Officer Fangmeyer left without a word.

"Come in, Hamilton," invited her Chief Bogo. The panther walked in casually and sat in front of the water buffalo. She had heard a lot about him, especially from Detective Sullivan and Chief Blizzard. She knew she couldn't let him intimidate her, even if was born to do so.

"Good morning, sir," she greeted him politely, but coldly. She could tell that he didn't like her from the first sight.

"Good morning. My condolences for your partner. I've just learnt," Bogo said and Hamilton bobbed her head once.

"Thank you, sir. It was great shock to me, but I'm happy that I got his murderers. Even if I was too late," she replied and the water buffalo raised his brow curiously.

"Interesting coincidence, isn't it? That you found them today in the morning, right under our station," the Chief stated. He felt that she was hiding something, but couldn't quite put a name on it.

"I saw them by accident. They passed by my car, so I called backup and arrested them. Your officer then intervened and forced me to bring them here. I'd prefer to take care of this case personally, but…"

"Quit the crap, Hamilton," Bogo interrupted her. "You're trying to tell me that on the morning right after your partner died, you, instead of charging either to the crime scene or your station, took your police car on a ride and happened to meet Wilde and Hopps who, for some reason, were driving around Precinct 1?" He watched her inquisitively.

"That's what happened, I was simply…" Hamilton tried to argue.

"Oh, shut your mouth, Hamilton, and look me in the eyes!" Bogo slammed the desk with fist angrily. The panther raised her sight to meet his eyes and realized how grave mistake she had committed coming here. "You're going to lose the case and we both know it."

"I'm not…"

"No Chief, even Blizzard, will allow you to lead a case when your partner, the one that outranks you, in fact, has been murdered during it. Trust me on that," the buffalo stated coldly. "But! Losing the case is the smallest of your problems, because right now, you are trying to sell me some crappy story about arresting Wilde and Hopps instead of telling me truth!"

"I am…"

"Do you know how many cases these two are involved in, right now?!"

"Of course, I do…" Hamilton tried to protest.

"Two murders! Double prison escape! Sabotage of city's electrical grid! A kidnapping! We have a rabbit that can be killed any moment now because you are trying to bullshit me and have your private vendetta!" Bogo yelled at her. "And trust me, if Crane dies, I'll have you and your career ruined in a…"

"Someone tipped me off," Hamilton broke. The water buffalo stared at her coldly and she continued. "I got a text in the night that I should look for Wilde and Hopps around your station. I was going to ignore it, but then… they killed my partner," she explained.

"You checked the number?"

"Our TOs are verifying it at the moment, but it looks like a throwaway phone," confirmed Hamilton. "I know I'm going to lose the case, Chief, but all I ask is that I can take Wilde and Hopps to my…"

"You can take Wilde and Hopps, but to Precinct 8, Savanna Central," Bogo decided.

"Sir?"

"Detective Van Troff is in charge of case of kidnapping Kaylee Crane. Wilde and Hopps are the crucial witnesses there," Bogo explained to her. "I know you're angry, Hamilton, but dead can wait when we can still save the living. And besides, I don't think Wilde or Hopps are your murderers."

"I… understood, sir," she replied, trying to mask her true feelings.

"And if Wilde or Hopps have any urgent news about Crane, report it to me and Van Troff immediately. And you're going to tell Van Troff what you told me. I'll look to it personally. Understood?" Bogo glared at her coldly.

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir," she replied and stood up. "I will be going now," she decided and when Chief Bogo didn't protest, left immediately. As she was closing the door, she barely contained a chuckle.

* * *

 _8.13 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

Nick and Judy sat on prison benches in painful silence. They lost. They screwed up, threw the thing. And now, they have all the time they needed to reconsider their mistakes.

"I should have turned myself in right off the bat," Nick finally interrupted the silence.

"We'd never learn the things we did, if they arrested you earlier," Judy refused with all the stubbornness she had left. "You learnt about Greymane and had Duchess call Jack and Gwen to help you. We found the documents…"

"And they killed Sullivan and kidnapped Kaylee in return. We don't even know what happened to Jack and Gwen. I didn't clear my name and I dragged you down with me," the fox riposted gloomily. "I told you we should keep distance and then I… Argh! How could I have been this stupid?!" He yelled angrily. Judy tried to reach him through cell bars and managed to put paw on his shoulder.

"You couldn't have known, Nick. And besides, I bet Gwen and Jack are alright and maybe they even have Kaylee and arrested…" Her voice trembled, as Nick stared back at her.

"Carrots, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but please stop," he said and Judy fell silent for a short moment. She hated the silence that fell between them, but what could she do? Act. But how to act when they were already out of the options?

"We need to find someone that will hear us out other than that stupid Hamilton. Do you think someone will come down if we…" Judy wondered and then, stopped in the middle of sentence, as she saw someone descending the stairs.

"Max!" She shouted enthusiastically as she recognized the newcomer and Nick lightened up immediately just as well. The wolf was dressed even more elegantly than usually, but he looked awfully tired and shabby, as if he had been sleeping in these clothes or haven't slept at night at all. He walked up to Nick's cell bars and stared at the fox.

"Nick, look me in the eyes and promise me that it wasn't you that hurt Kaylee," he begged, fury and despair mixing in him equally. He didn't seem to have even noticed Judy.

"Max, I promise it wasn't me," the fox replied, but couldn't read from Max's expression if he believed him. "And we need your help to save her."

"Where is she?" Was all that he said.

"Spencer Young and Scarlet Calveit kidnapped her. They took her to Watering Hole Port and Savage and Skye from ZIA were to make a trade, but something went wrong. Listen, Skye's number is 664 456 654. You can call her and she'll explain everything to you…" He continued when he noticed with corner of his eye that Judy's ears perked up rapidly, as she spotted something. But then, Max grabbed him by the throat almost crushing it.

"Liar!" Max snarled angrily and lifted him in the air. "ZIA?! What are you even talking about?! You keep making up more and more bizarre stories just to save your tail, bastard!" He yelled at him, while Nick was desperately trying to breath.

"Max, he's…" Judy protested.

"Oh, shut it, will you?!" Max snarled at her too furiously. "He's lying to everyone, Judy, can't you see it?! He murdered my father and Kaylee and now, he's trying to…"

"Reynolds, that's enough!" Came from behind. All three of them turned around and saw Officer Victoria Hamilton. "You shouldn't even be here," she stated scornfully. Max just snorted, but dropped the fox. Nick fell on his knees hardly and breathed deeply while holding his neck. The wolf would have crushed him, hadn't Hamilton intervened. Judy kneeled by the bars and put paw on his shoulder watching the wolf with blame, but he didn't notice. Max was now electrifying the newcomer with his sight.

"Are you taking them? Where to?" He demanded to know.

"Detective Van Troff, the one in charge of Crane's disappearance. They'll find out what happened to her," explained Hamilton.

"Good. I'm sick of him anyway," muttered Max, as he passed by her and walked up the stairs not even turning back as all the three watched him. Judy wanted to scream. How could Max be so stupid? How could he have so little faith in her and Nick now, when they needed him at the most? Nick looked simply downcast, like something had broken in him. Officer Hamilton watched the two of them in triumphant silence.

"Get up. We're going for a ride."


	19. Unshackled

_5.59 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

Jonathan Cassier, a deer paramedic from Rainforest Disctrict, had all the reasons to complain. He was supposed to be finishing his duty in ten minutes when they received the call. With all other ambulances occupied, his team had really no choice but to curse the unlucky bastard that required their help, gather the team in the ambulance and arrive at the place; four-lane road in the center of their district. Their driver parked at shoulder of the road next to the victim's car and paramedics left the ambulance. And then, Cassier saw the scene with his eyes; he of course knew what to expect, but it looked ridiculous nonetheless. In front of them, was a big hatchback car with its driver, a bear standing couple feet away, discussing something with another driver that stopped by. They looked unscathed, oppositely to the car. Half of its roof was crushed like someone had dropped a considerable metal weight on it. Cassier even knew what had been dropped and red puffy tail sticking out from the back of the car only confirmed his fears. He looked up searching for the nearest ledge to fall from.

"They should be sending a hearse, not an ambulance," he muttered to the other paramedic, Ricky, who only nodded agreeing. He walked over to the car, while his partner started talking with the bear and the other driver. Cassier estimated the fox lying on the top of the roof; young, in his mid-twenties, male, dressed in casual clothes. No visible wounds or broken bones. After a three-hundred-feet fall resulting in crashing at some unlucky guy's car roof, he looked like he was just sleeping, lying on his back casually. And then, Cassier watched fox's chest and cursed.

"Ricky, he's breathing!" He announced barely believing his eyes.

"He's supposed to be smeared all over the car, how can he…" Ricky tried to argue as he ran over, but then saw it with his own eyes. "Lucky bastard. It must have been the vines, right?" He guessed and both of them looked up. There were lots and lots of vines above them. If fox hit every single one of them, he had a chance to end up in such good state.

"I guess. OK, we gotta take him to the hospital. Is the driver alright?" Asked Cassier.

"Just a headache. He said his sister will drive him to the hospital when she comes," confirmed Ricky.

"OK. Let's pick the fox up, then, but carefully. For all that we know, his spine might look like hammered spaghetti," he noticed. Cassier put carefully a neck brace on fox's neck and then, assisted by two police officers that had just arrived at the scene, put him on stretcher and lifted him off the car. The police officer then searched his pockets quickly hoping to find a wallet or ID, but with no such discovery let them take him. Cassier and Ricky climbed into the ambulance and drove to their hospital in silence. And then, fox opened his eyes and tried to stand up. Cassier stopped him immediately.

"Woah, buddy, you'd better not move," he warned him.

"Yeah, you're lucky to be alive," added Ricky. Fox looked around and recognized that he was in ambulance, but remained just as confused as before. He watched the paramedics questioningly.

"You fell, boy. At least three hundred feet, straight on some poor guy's car. You'd have splattered all over the road if not for the vines and a car you landed at," explained Cassier. For a moment, fox was just staring at him blankly and then, he started recalling the recent events. Cassier could see his eyes opening wide open as the memories struck him.

"Scarlet! I need to…" He tried to move, but he groaned painfully and the deer stopped him again.

"You need to not move. You've got a name, boy?"

"Javier. Javier Miles," the fox replied after a moment of hesitation. It looked like he had troubles recalling even such simple facts. "I… I have to go," he pleased.

"Not happening, boy. We need to check you first," refused Cassier. "If someone's in danger or you know who did it to you, you should report it to us. We'll inform the police immediately."

"No, no, it's not that," the fox refused and saw deer's suspicious sight. "I… I was taking a shortcut to my cousin's house. I wanted to say goodbye, before she'd go to her plane. She's moving out, you know. But I think I… I slipped," he explained. Both paramedics were watching him suspiciously, but said nothing.

"You can call her, if you remember her number," Cassier suggested finally offering his phone to the fox. He grabbed it and smiled thankfully in reply. The fox called a number, waited a few moments and then, hung up with disappointment.

"She's not picking up. Thank you anyway," he explained. "What time do we have? Where are you taking me?"

"It's almost half past six and we're headed to the hospital. You need to be checked," Cassier told him.

"Will it take long?" He asked.

"Couple hours for sure," explained the paramedic, but fox didn't seem to like the idea.

"I understand," he replied tersely. Cassier tried to suggest that if there was anyone that he needed to call, he could borrow his phone, but fox refused politely and fell awfully silent for the rest of ride. Completely unlikely someone that had just dodged death by inches.

* * *

 _8.03 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

Slipping out of the hospital took Spencer Young way longer than he could have afforded. By the time he had jumped out a window and disappeared in a crowded street, Scarlet and the others must have been already conducting their crooked trade, whatever they had in minds. And while he could not mess with her plans there, he still could catch up with her. For that, he went to the closest Internet café and started searching for a certain spy shop's website. He found it and downloaded an app from it; a GPS tracker monitoring software. Long before everything started, Spencer had secretly installed couple of them in all of their vehicles; Scarlet's bike and jeep and his car. Now, all he needed to do was write all three IDs to locate all the three; his car and the motorbike had been left in Rainforest District while the jeep was in Watering Hole Port. And then, it started moving. Spencer watched its path for a few minutes, but before it even made it through half of its destined path, the fox knew where Scarlet was heading. He ran out of the café and caught a taxi. He might have been excluded from his own heist, but he still had a mission to complete. One life that he had to save. And one that he had to take.

* * *

 _8.06 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

The dynamite explosion at Watering Hole Port had knocked Agent Gwyneth Skye off her feet, only for her to lift herself back up and run back to her previous position. From there, she could watch Calveit, Greymane and Jacobs getting away with their hostage. But the vixen wasn't really watching them leave; all she could bring herself to watch was the wreck of her car at the spot where her partner had been standing just few seconds earlier.

"Savage, do you copy?" She asked, but heard no reply. "Savage, do you copy?!" She repeated as staring in the cloud of thick smoke, but again, no one responded. She felt chill down her spine. He couldn't… He couldn't be…"

"Jack, I beg you. Do you copy?" She asked one last time. And then, she heard humming in her earpiece.

 _"_ _Use… surnames…Skye,"_ Jack managed to mutter and the vixen could hardly contain nervous laugh. She could bet he was grinning like an idiot right now. Whom he was, what an idiot.

"Your sole purpose of existence is to infuriate me, isn't it? Where are you?" She asked, while finding the phone she had been using to keep in touch with Wilde. He had hung up.

 _"_ _Near van. Explosion…"_ Jack coughed and it sounded really, really bad. Skye could hear it even without the earpiece. _"Sent me flying a bit."_

"I think I can see you," the vixen said and began to follow coughing noises. She soon found Jack between containers behind the van. He was lying there, trying to lift himself against a wall to no avail. Skye hurried to her partner and helped him sit leaning against a container's wall. Jack coughed up with blood.

"How bad is it?" She wondered, but she already knew that he needed hospital quickly. He had taken that explosion head-on, which was begging for some nasty, hardly-detectable internal damages.

"Coughing up blood, can't hear anything but high-pitched screech on left ear, everything hurts and I can't even stand up. How are Wilde and Hopps?" Jack asked instead.

"They hung up when after the explosion. Calveit, Greymane and Jacobs got away with Crane, but I think Morrows is still here…" Skye said and then, she heard a car engine only to turn around and see a jeep with Joshua Morrows trying to drive them over. The sandy vixen grabbed Jack despite his painful grunts and jumped away with him in between containers just in time.

"That crazy bastard!" She cursed, as she hid away from him.

"Leave me here… Too thin for a car…" The rabbit suggested and he was right; the car wouldn't fit in and as much as vixen didn't like the idea, he'd be only slowing her down tremendously.

"You've got your gun?" She asked, as putting him back on the floor gently. Jack smirked and unsheathed his long-distance taser.

"Armed and ready," he assured.

"Alright. I'm going in," she grabbed her gun too and left Jack on his own. She didn't worry about him; he could handle himself. Or call her in time. Instead, she decided to follow the jeep.

Morrows had left his car right after he had tried to kill the two of them and Gwen followed his trails for quite a moment. He was meandering between the containers in some unusual manner and she couldn't really tell what he was trying to achieve. Come back to them? Run away? Or…

"A trap," she realized right when pig jumped down on her from a container and tried to slam her in the head, but she dashed away and shot him straight in chest. Or rather, straight in his bulletproof jacket. He lunged toward her with fists, but Skye simply stepped aside, hooked him and, as the pig fell, packed a shot of taser in his neck. The pig shrieked painfully and then, he was done for. Vixen handcuffed him and crouched in front of the pig. He was still conscious and responding and Agent Skye was going to take full advantage of it.

"Where did they take her?" She demanded to know, but Morrows just smirked.

"I ain't telling you nothing," he spat in front of her feet, but vixen was more disgusted with his double negation than his saliva. She grabbed his chin and lifted it for their eyes to meet.

"You probably don't realize, Morrows, but your friends left you here alone not believing that you'd be able to kill me or Jack. You're just a decoy to them and you've done your job gallantly. Now, you're going to spend remainder of your life in prison… or you can help me by telling me where Crane is and helping me save her. For now, to me you are guilty of nothing but a prison break. If she dies because you didn't help me, things will turn much more awkward," she warned him.

"Tell you what, pretty, I'm no snitch," Joshua replied firmly. Gwen stared him in the eyes and recognized that he'd tell her nothing willingly. She stood up and reached for her telescopic baton.

"Then you leave me no choice," she stated, but Morrows only laughed.

"And what'cha gonna do, cop? Hit me? Your Chief will fire you…" And then, he howled painfully when Skye slammed him right in the kidney.

"Tell you what, ugly. I'm no cop," she replied, electrifying the pig with ominous stare and raised the baton again. Within couple next minutes, she learnt all that she needed to know.

* * *

 _8.19 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

Officer Hamilton got the privilege of driving Nick and Judy to Savanna Central on her own, without anyone escorting. With two of them in the back, she left the police parking and headed south to Detective Van Troff, who was supposed to find Kaylee. Neither Hopps nor Wilde saw a point in speaking to her anymore; especially the fox, who was now additionally downcast with muzzle on his snout and how Max had treated him. Judy watched her partner carefully; he was just sitting in silence, staring at his feet. She relly wanted to say something, but then she realized something was way off; they weren't in Savanna Central, but Sahara Square and heading north toward Tundratown.

"Hey, Savanna Central's the other way around," Judy noticed and Hamilton just giggled.

"Oh, we're not going to Savanna Central. It'd mess with our plans," she replied.

"What are you…"

"Young and Calveit bribed her, Carrots. She's the one they bought, not Sullivan," Nick spoke suddenly and both Hamilton and Judy stared at him with shock. The panther laughed and Judy turned her carrot pen on stealthily. Somehow, it had made it through the earlier search.

"Oh, and since when do you know?" Wondered Hamilton.

"Since you took that turn to the east instead of west. But I should have known the moment they killed Sullivan," he explained. "So, what's in it for you? Money? Revenge?"

"Money and revenge. Sullivan treated me like a young stupid girl all these years. He had it coming. And Young offered quite a sum for my assistance," she explain. Nick barely kept a poker face; he realized that Judy's carrot pen was recording everything.

"And for killing your partner?" Hopps asked angrily.

"Like I said, I never liked him anyway. Maybe next time, they'll assign me someone less annoying," she shrugged carelessly as they entered the tunnel; they were driving to Tundratown.

"What was your price?" Nick asked.

"One hundred thousand for helping to frame you. It wasn't that hard, you know. We simply had to appear at the right place and time, take the investigation over and then, watch Sullivan do whole the job for me," smirked Hamilton. "He was so certain of your guilt, he missed couple important traces. Like one of the painting frames missing from the crime scene."

"So you checked that?!" Judy asked with shock.

"Of course we did, but only after Reynolds came to me and made a scene. I tried to dismiss him and I guess he didn't like me. And I forgot to mention about the results to Sullivan eventually. You know, rookie mistake," she shrugged and laughed. They were now entering the Tundratown and everything turned blindingly white for a moment. Hamilton slowed down a bit.

"And that was it? You just let Sullivan roam and hid evidence from him?" Nick asked with disbelief. He had held Sullivan in higher esteem than that.

"More or less. Even if he suspected anything, they killed him before he expressed it. But no, I wasn't just sitting and munching donuts. I visited couple places: searched your house and workplace, visited your mother…" she paused and adjusted the mirror so she could see Wilde's eyes. "She saw right through me from the start. She probably didn't expect that I work for them, but she easily figured out that I wanted you arrested as fast as possible."

"Sounds like her," Nick agreed coldly and looked out the window. They had gotten off the main streets, crossed a bridge and had entered a small, rather unoccupied archipelagos of not too big islands east of Tundratown. "So, where are you taking us? We're clearly not going to the station," he noticed. He already had an idea, but he needed to hear it from her.

"Oh, funny story. Calveit called me earlier in the night assuring they had killed Sullivan and offered to triple my pay. You know, for arresting and discretely killing you two," she looked back, but saw no fear or even shock in their eyes. Given how much she told him, they had probably already expected it. Not too disappointed, she continued. "So I figured, I'll take you to Tundratown and, you know, slip from the road. It's cold water out there and you're handcuffed and locked in the back. I'll be able to get out of the car myself, but I won't be able to save you," she grinned. "Shame, isn't it?"

"And how are you going to explain yourself? You're not even supposed to be here," Judy pointed out and the panther hesitated for a moment.

"I'll… figure something out. I'll probably get degraded, but I don't think they'll fire me. And I'll be rich and have a new partner. I'm smarter than I look, Hopps, don't you worry about me," she assured, but sounded rather nervous, now that she began to think of it.

"Our ZIA friends will give whole the thing away, Hamilton. They'll know you've killed us. You can't get away with it," Judy warned her. The panther squeezed steering wheel nervously, but shrugged it off.

"ZIA? I bet Calveit took care of it by now. She wouldn't allow me to be compromised. I'd be a loose end," replied panther confidently.

"You're putting lots of faith in someone you don't even know," Nick noticed skeptically.

"I put faith in her professionalism, Wilde," she replied and looked around. "Should I drop you off somewhere around here, guys? I think we'll go to that bridge ahead and do it there, huh?" She suggested and laughed like she had just told them a great joke, but both Nick and Judy could tell she was simply trying to stay cool. Deep inside, she was freaking out.

"And what if you don't make it? Water's really cold down there," warned her Judy.

"I've been in a drowning car and it was by Rainforest District where water is warm. It's not easy to get out of a car," Nick warned her and saw the panther shivering.

"I'm a good swimmer," she replied.

"But good enough? You'll never know until you see. Just the fall could knock you out, especially if…" replied fox and she turned around.

"Shut up, alright! I was paid to kill you! That's what I'm going to do! Kill you!" She yelled at them. And then, she saw something in the back window and cursed. Before Nick and Judy managed to turn around, but then they felt a powerful slam from behind.

"Damn it!" Hamilton tried to control the police car while Judy and Nick watched a familiar red sports car preparing to attack again. It hit them right in the spot, knocking them off the road and causing to roll over several times through the snow. They ended up on the roof with all the three groaning painfully, seatbelts saving them from any serious harm. Hamilton found her gun, unbelted herself and managed to open her door. She tried to crawl out of it, but then, felt a sting and saw a tranquilizer dart sticking out of her shoulder.

"Who…" she mumbled before the sedative kicked in and she fell with her face in the snow. Nick and Judy could hear the steps and then, they saw a wolf crouching before their door. Both of them recognized him immediately.

"Are you alright?" Max Reynolds greeted them with a smile of someone tired and emotionally devastated.

"Max!" Judy exclaimed joyfully and Nick sighed with relief. "Can you get us out of here?"

"Give me a moment," he went to Hamilton and searched her. Reynolds found her keys, one of which opened the door. He helped both rabbit and fox out and then, uncuffed them and took the muzzle off Wilde's snout.

"So much better," Nick said opening his jaws to the maximum extent and the wolf nodded agreeing.

"Help me get Hamilton in the car and let's get out of here before someone sees us," suggested Reynolds. They packed unconscious Hamilton to the back of Max's car, took their seats, Nick in the front and Judy in the back, and drove away hurriedly. For a moment, they remained in silence, glancing at each other back and forth.

"Sorry for choking. You gave me Skye's number when I saw her coming and I needed it to look credible enough. I didn't trust her from the start," Max interrupted the silence, deciding finally that he owed them some explanation.

"It's fine," Nick replied even if his throat still hurt. "So you believed us?"

"Of course I believed you. The moment you told me that it wasn't you, any doubts were gone. You'd have never murdered my father or hurt Kaylee. And besides…" Max clenched his paws on the driving wheel as he glanced at the fox. "The only possibility that Kaylee is still alive was that you were telling the truth. Even if I hadn't believed you, I'd… I'd cling on to that thought," he explained finally and looked away from him immediately. Judy and Nick exchanged worried sights. If Kaylee was hurt, would he ever forgive them? Would he even have a reason to live?

"I'm sorry, Max," Judy said finally.

"She's an adult. She knew what she was doing and now we'd better focus on saving her. Speaking of which…" Max threw Nick some phone. "I've called Skye. She explained the situation to me and we concluded together that Hamilton is most likely a traitor and you're in danger. She suggested you call her again when you're free. She should have got something vital out of Morrows already," he explained. Nick dialed Gwen's number, switched to loudspeaker and waited couple seconds before she picked up.

 _"_ _Reynolds? How did it go?"_ She asked.

"We're alright, all three of us. Hamilton worked with Scarlet and wanted to kill us in a pretended accident, but Max intervened in time," Nick explained and Max watched Judy with surprise. She confirmed with a single nod and thanked him silently.

 _"_ _They tried to kill us too, but with dynamite. Jack's been roughened up a bit, but we captured Morrows and learnt couple things. Such as, has Calveit apparently double-crossed Young. She killed him and is now in charge."_

"That explains their change of plans," Nick noticed.

 _"_ _I guess. Scarlet called Morrows and I had a few words with her, by the way. She, Jacobs and Greymane are waiting for us in the old city canals with entrance at Crevasse Street. She initially hoped to just kill Crane and vanish, but given that I'm still alive, she wants to lure me in and kill. I'm already headed there."_

"We're on our way too and we'll be there in couple minutes," Max promised.

 _"_ _Don't wait for me, then. I'll try to join you later and cut off their ways out. Calveit claims she'll kill Crane if she sees any cops, but she doesn't know you made it and she wants everyone dead, so she'll allow it. Be extremely careful, though. We don't know what waits there,"_ she warned them.

"Traps, traps and traps," guessed Nick.

 _"_ _Most likely. Good luck, guys."_

"Good luck," replied the fox and hung up. "Max, do we have any weapons?" He wondered.

"Only my gun and baton. I think it'll be best if Judy takes the gun," suggested the wolf.

"Let Nick have it. I'll take Hamilton's, if that's alright with you," the bunny decided instead.

"I'm a poor shooter anyway. Baton should suffice," agreed the wolf and for a moment they drove in silence. "So, is Young really dead? The murderer of my father?" He asked, but Nick just shrugged.

"Skye claims so. We didn't see him anywhere and they seem to have changed the plans dramatically over the night. Something might have happened," the fox stated carefully.

"Killing us doesn't suit him. He seemed to hold me and Nick in great esteem," Judy added and saw the way Max glanced at her. "We met yesterday, before I knew he was the murderer."

"So we can assume he's out of the picture. Just the three of them and three of us," the wolf summed up as he parked by the entrance to the canals. They got out of the car and Max and Nick picked on the smell immediately.

"Blood," stated Nick.

"Hers," agreed Max. "They're here," he said, removing the hatch. He turned on a phone flashlight, looked around and jumped down, followed by Nick and Judy. The tunnel was wide, round and partially filled with muddy water. Thanks to old, yellowish lights, they could see quite a lot, especially Nick and Max. The wolf noticed a newly installed camera and knocked it down with an angry swipe.

"So they know we're here," he snarled.

"It is changing nothing," Nick replied ominously, as they followed bloody trail. Wilde, Hopps and Reynolds were in and they were not leaving empty-handed.


	20. Lucky star

_8.39 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

Scarlet Calveit was trying desperately to pinpoint the exact moment when everything around her began to fall apart. Was it when Morrows failed to kill Agent Gwyneth Skye? Or maybe was it when Officer Hamilton had been compromised and Wilde and Hopps managed to break free? Or was it when she killed Spencer? It wasn't supposed to go like this. For a moment, everyone was at Scarlet's mercy. And then, all of them broke free, all at once. All except for Crane, that is. She was her last trump card that she had to play very carefully, if she intended to kill Skye, Wilde and Hopps and get away with it.

"Scarlet, they came. And it looks like they're not alone," warned Greymane and she turned to him. The wolf was holding a tablet with views from cameras she had set around the place earlier that night; at least she was prepared this one bit. Pronghorn took the tablet from her and watched the view that Greymane paused. She could see three mammals entering the tunnel.

"Wilde and Hopps. And it looks like they have Reynolds with them," recognized them Donovan Jacobs. "Do we stick to the plan?"

"Yes, we do. Grey, you stay here and kill whoever walks in. After you're done with them, you can have the rabbit. I and Mr. Jacobs will separate them and lure into the traps," she ordered firmly. She had to remain confident. If either of them started questioning their situation, everything would fall apart immediately.

"You can count on me," Greymane gave her a toothy grin. For a moment, Scarlet wondered why was the wolf even with them: for the money they offered, or simply because they delivered him chances to murder and get away with it?

"Let's go, then. We don't have much time," suggested Donovan Jacobs. He and Scarlet left Greymane with the bunny and ran the old canal tunnels. Their job was to bring cops' attention, separate them and then finish them off one by one.

"Mr. Jacobs, check the traps at eastern branch," the pronghorn pleased while she checked the ones at the other corridor. They weren't anything too sublime, just couple dozen of old good leg-hold traps (called also bear traps by more racist mammals) hidden in the muddy waters of the canal, locations of which Scarlet had discretely marked with chalk on the walls. With all of them set and a gun she had acquired from Sullivan prepared, she waited for Mr. Jacobs. After a disturbingly long moment, she decided to look around for him, but when she found him nowhere near, she realized what had happened; he had fled and left her and Greymane on their own. Scarlet cursed under her breath as she clenched her fists angrily. For a second, she considered running away, but released herself of the thought quickly. She had to stick to the plan. Kill Wilde, Hopps and Skye and with no one to know the truth, run away with the painting that she'd eventually sell. As simple as that.

* * *

 _8.46 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

Nick, Judy and Max threaded through the muddy waters hurriedly, but fully aware of their surroundings and expecting an ambush behind any other corner. They followed weak trail of Kaylee's blood odor that both Nick and Max could sense for most of the time. And then, right after they passed by one of the crossroads, Judy stopped them.

"Someone's trying to sneak up on us," she warned them. Nick looked back in the corridor. For a moment, he saw some movement and heard steps in the water.

"It seems so. Are we checking it?" He asked, not too sure. On one hand, Kaylee was their priority. On the other, they couldn't afford to be surrounded.

"You two go after it. I'll follow Kaylee's trail," decided Max. Judy wanted to protest, but he interrupted her. "If it's Greymane in there, either of you will be helpless alone," he argued.

"He's right. Let's go, Carrots," Nick agreed and the two of them started running through the off-branch with their guns prepared. As soon as Max disappeared from their sight, they started hearing the steps in water ahead of them clearly. They'd been chasing them for a while when they finally saw the one they were chasing: Scarlet Calveit. Both Nick and Judy tried to shoot her down, but the pronghorn managed to avoid both and disappear behind another corner. She shot several darts at them, missing horribly with each.

"You left your friend Reynolds behind?!" Calveit called them. She stopped and so did Nick and Judy, separated from her by not too long corridor.

"You seem to have lost a couple of friends too," Judy pointed out. "You backstabbed Spencer and Skye arrested Morrows. Suddenly, there's just the three of you."

"Just enough to handle you, rabbit! You can come and see for yourself!" Calveit suggested in reply.

"She's alone and trying to stall," Nick whispered to Judy and she nodded agreeing. Whatever Jacobs and Greymane were doing, they weren't here.

"Go back to Max. I'll handle her," Judy decided. For a second, Nick wanted to offer himself to deal with pronghorn, but then he realized Judy wouldn't be able to trace scent of Kaylee's blood like he or Max. If either of them was to join the wolf quickly, it was him.

"Got it. Carefully with her. She's had some time to set things up," Nick warned and she nodded agreeing. The fox then ran back to where he hoped to pick Kaylee and Max's smells. Judy stuck her head out a bit and saw that Calveit was doing just the same.

"Oh, your boyfriend left you?" The pronghorn mocked her.

"He's not my boyfriend," Judy clarified, hiding behind the corner.

"Yeah, whatever. Tell you what…" Scarlet spoke and Judy popped her head out only to see the pronghorn pressing the trigger desperately to no avail. "Crap, I'm out of…"

"Out of ammo?" Judy guessed, almost managing to sound concerned. "I guess it's over then. Why don't you come out with your arms in the air?" Scarlet just snorted, but threw away useless gun.

"You want me? Come and arrest me, bunny," suggested the pronghorn. Judy hesitated for a moment. Something was way off. Why had Scarlet not just kept running? She watched the canal carefully. It was rather wide. If she stuck to the left wall, there'd be always enough distance between the two of them for bunny to safely shoot her down. Judy stepped from behind the corner carefully with gun aimed where Scarlet could pop out. She walked slowly and possibly quietly. And then, Scarlet jumped out and threw a knife. Judy tried to shoot her down, missed, jumped above the flying knife, bounced from the wall dodging another one. She bounced off the parallel wall, shot another dart missing only for inches and landed back in the water. Judy suddenly slipped and fell into the muddy water, with her nose touching something cold and metallic, something that definitely shouldn't be there. She raised herself quickly and where her head had been a couple seconds earlier, a knife was now cutting through air and water. It hit the same metallic plate Hopps had dabbed before and then, a bear trap snapped right in couple inches from her face with tremendous force. Judy squeaked with horror, as she realized she could have met her fate there, but then, she caught Scarlet with corner of her eye; she was now charging at the bunny with big knife and paws, but choosing her steps rather carefully. It could only mean that there were lots and lots more of such traps around here. The rabbit wanted to shoot her down, but realized something Calveit already had; in the fervor, she had dropped her gun in the muddy water.

"I got you!" Scarlet yelled, as she tried to slash her up, but Judy rolled away praying in mind to not end up on another bear trap. With her lucky star shining bright, bunny jumped back to her feet, leaned back from the horizontal slash and lunged toward the pronghorn. She hit her in the abdomen like a speeding bullet and when Scarlet stepped back leaning against the wall, Judy jumped back up and sold her solid hook to the face. Calveit swayed dizzily, trying to keep on her feet. And then, a sudden crack followed by Scarlet's blood-freezing scream echoed through the canals as one of the bear traps crushed her leg. The pronghorn lost balance and fell into the muddy water. The splash was followed by another crack and Scarlet's pitiful squeal. This time it was her right paw, the one she held her knife in. The pronghorn tried to stand up, but only screamed in pain.

"You'd better not move. You'll only trigger more traps," Judy warned her.

"Like you'd care," snarled Scarlet through her teeth.

"I do. Do not move. Someone will come for you soon. Where are Kaylee Crane, Gerard Greymane and Donovan Jacobs?" She asked, but Scarlet only laughed.

"You'd love to know, wouldn't you?"

"You lost, Calveit. Don't make things worse than they are," Judy warned her, but again heard but a giggle.

"I'll have lost when you arrest Greymane. But it will not happen, because he will butcher all the three of you beforehand. He's a monster, you know," Scarlet grinned ominously, even if her eyes were growing watery with two of her limbs broken.

"Max alone will be enough. He's handled monsters before," Judy refused confidently, as she passed by Scarlet carefully. It wasn't exactly truth, as the last monster Max fought was Olivier Antiery and their fight was rather a slaughter, but Max had grown a lot in the last year. She believed in him.

* * *

 _8.49 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

Max had been following the trail of blood for quite a moment and it was slowly growing stronger. Max finally realized how could he track it in a canal full of water; whoever brought Kaylee here, he'd once in a while smear some of her blood on the walls, making the scent infuriatingly lasting. But at some point, wolf started noticing other smells too: Kaylee's fur, another wolf and some prey that must have gone by the time he'd arrive; most likely Scarlet Calveit.

And then, he saw opened metal door. Behind it, the corridor turned into a high, circular room with much brighter lighting than the rest of the canals. The walls were covered with some old, long forgotten equipment, mostly heavy, thick pipes. At the opposite end of the room, was another door and, right next to it, somebody sitting, leaning against the wall. Max recognized her immediately.

"Kaylee?!" He called and started to run. The bunny lifted her head slowly and opened her eyes. She was tired, scared and in pain. Her clothes were messy and whole thigh was covered in crimson blood of hers. And yet, her face brightened and ears perked up rapidly. She'd probably exclaim something joyfully, were her mouth not taped. And then, her sight turned to the right as she squeaked. Max saw it right as he ran through the door and barely managed to duck under the swipe of massive, grey paw. He rolled through the floor, got back to his feet and stood between a huge, grey wolf and Kaylee. The foe gave him a toothy, bloodthirsty smile.

"Came here to avenge your daddy, Reynolds?" Mocked him the grey wolf. Max clenched his fist on baton angrily.

"No, to rescue my fiancée. But it's not stopping me from pummeling you as much as I want to," replied Max ominously. Gerard Greymane cackled in reply.

"You will try! And then, you'll watch me shredding the rabbit to pieces!" He yelled and lunged toward him, only to be surprised nastily; before he could reach Max's face with his talons, cop's uppercut hit him like a truck. While Greymane was busy watching the stars, Reynolds slammed him in face with baton and watched the grey wolf tripping and falling couple feet away. Gerard grinned and spat some blood.

"Oh, well, let's try again, shall we?" He smirked and jumped toward Max again. This time, the moment Reynolds swung with baton, Gerard caught his paw and continued his leap toward Reynolds' throat. Max let him knock the two of them over, but before Greymane's jaws closed on his neck, he kicked him off himself and rolled away. Both of them got to their feet simultaneously and jumped to each other's throats yet again.

Kaylee watched the struggle of two wolves in silence. Greymane was a strange, terrifying phenomenon; he had skills of once professional fighter tainted with savagery of his soul, resulting in what Kaylee describe as controlled fury. He kept cackling, snarling and yelping, as his claws and teeth shined in the weak light of the canal lamps and yet, his instincts never overshadowed cold calculation behind his attacks. Max, on the other hand, wasn't half as showy as him, but twice as effective. His moves were subtle, almost reluctant, but just sufficed to parry most of attacks and land some painful blows as well. He was constantly in move, but never allowed to be pushed back for longer than a few seconds and he always remained between Greymane and his fiancée.

Kaylee watched the wolves fighting, but she did not do so helplessly. With a piece of sharpened metal she managed to grab earlier, she was trying to cut through the tape on her wrists. She knew she probably wouldn't be able to change a thing in fight between these two, especially in her state, but she was not going to sit around helplessly. It was at the moment that bunny released her paws, when she saw Max slip. A powerful punch of Greymane's made it through his defense and struck him right in the snout, followed immediately by left hook to the cheek that threw Max to the wall of thick, metal pipes. Gerard then tried to slash his chest apart, but all he hit were the pipes and belt holding them to the wall. And then, with one belt cut, the other one broke and suddenly, an avalanche of pipes covered fell on the two of them. Both wolves yelped in surprise, but neither managed to escape. They ended up covered with thick layer of those to the very shoulders, Max with one arm out and Gerard with both under the pipes. Both tried to lift themselves, but the weight was certainly too much. It was exactly what Kaylee waited for. She tore the duct tape off her mouth and managed to lift herself.

"Max!" She called him and tried to walk over to him, but then, her world spun and she fell to all fours. She had lost way too much blood and only started feeling it now, when she had a chance to move.

"I'm alright! I just can't move. How are you, darling?" The wolf asked and she smiled weakly.

"Dizzy, that's all," she claimed, even if it was a massive understatement. She somehow crawled to Max and started moving them, but wolf stopped her.

"Don't. If you free me, you'll free Greymane as well and Nick and Judy should come any moment," he assured. Greymane snarled and tried to lift himself, quite aware he had little time left, but all his attempts were in vain. Kaylee watched Gerard's struggle with mix of horror and disdain.

"Are you alright?" Max asked carefully, grabbing her paw. It was shaking.

"No, but I will be," she promised looking him in the eyes and smiling weakly. It wasn't even about the physical harm, rather than mental. She was going to have nightmares about Greymane, but Max was going to be there for her. She'd make it through. Before she said anything more, her ears perked up as she heard someone approaching. With corner of eye she caught a red, thin silhouette.

"Nick!" She turned around and then, froze in terror. It was not Nick, but Spencer Young. The fox smirked, closed and locked the door behind them. He wore some messed up, casual clothes and in his paw was a thin metal pipe that he was using as a cane. In his eyes flashed the most disturbing spark, as he smirked to the three of them.

"All of you in one place. How wonderful," he stated grimily. Kaylee glanced at Greymane: he looked just as shocked as she or Max.

"You're alive? Scarlet claimed she killed you," stuttered Gerard.

"I am surprised no less than you are," assured Spencer walking over to the three of them. He looked at Kaylee and quickly evaluated that she'd be no threat. "Where are Scarlet or Jacobs?"

"Taking care of Wilde and Hopps," reported Greymane. "Get me out of here and…"

"I will, but there is something I have to do beforehand," stated Spencer and turned at Max. He stared straight into his eyes coldly. "Hey, Max. My name is Spencer Young. I killed your father," he said and laughed bitterly, as Max snarled furiously. "And now…"

"No!" Kaylee jumped to her feet, swayed and fell right between Max and Spencer. She crawled back to her fiancé and protected his head and neck with her own torso. "You will not hurt him!"

"Move aside, Kaylee. It's not your business," Spencer snarled, leaning against the pipe.

"It is! You will not hurt Max! He never did a thing to you or your family! You already murdered his father! You made your point! That's enough!" She begged and then, Greymane cackled.

"Just kill them both, Spencer," he suggested. Even if he wouldn't be the executor, he'd gladly watch the act. Spencer sighed with resignation and lifted the pipe.

"Kaylee, move aside. He's going to do it," begged Max, but she just shook her head.

"He's not," she stated firmly. "It's not just about revenge to Spencer. It's about justice. Every death that he has caused was planned and justified in his own eyes. He wants to send the message to the city, show them how they're mistreating those poor and non-influential. But if he kills me, he'll taint his message with blood of innocent and everything he had done this far will be in vain," she said, staring him straight in the eyes. Spencer glanced at Max and then, back at her. He smiled weakly.

"Correct. Mostly," he agreed and then, swung the pipe. A lot of things happened in that moment. Kaylee covered her head with paws. Max's paw wrapped around her, pulling her aside. When she was still in the air, end of the pipe dashed couple inches away from Max's snout, but then, it changed direction. It flew in an arch for few awfully long fractures of second and then, struck Greymane right in the eye. The grey wolf yelped painfully, but Young jumped to him and continued to strike him, howling furiously till Gerard Greymane stopped moving at all. When he was done, the pipe slipped out of Spencer's shaking paw, as he stared down at the victim of his fury. The spark in his eyes died, as if he had been waiting way too long to do this and yet, couldn't find satisfaction or even relief in the act. Spencer fell to the knees, dropping the pipe, his arms twitching nervously.

"Why?" Asked Kaylee, just as confused and terrified as was Max.

"Haven't I told you before? Back in Mauler days, Greymane murdered four of my close friends. He was a monster and deserved to die," he explained. "I'm sorry for using you like this. I was never sure what he was capable of. I couldn't allow him to see the first blow coming. But you at least learnt something about each other," he tried to smile, but couldn't bring himself to.

"But…" Kaylee asked and then, they heard distant steps.

"You're safe now and he is dead. It's time for me." Spencer lifted himself with a painful grunt using the blood-covered pipe as a cane. "Goodbye, Kaylee. It has been pleasure to know you," he lowered his head respectfully and then, unlocked the another door and walked into a damp corridor. Kaylee felt chills down her spine. She suddenly realized that she was not going to see him ever again.

* * *

 _8.59 am. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

Nick Wilde followed Max and Kaylee's trail straight to the locked room deep in the canals. When the doorknob turned out to be blocked, fox decided to try and kick it down. The door remained intact, but its decayed wooden frame fell into pieces and Wilde stormed in, only to see Max lying under a pile of thick pipes with Kaylee hugging him. And then, stench of blood struck him and fox saw Greymane's head or rather, what remained of it.

"Nick! Just in time!" Max called him.

"I'll get you free in just a…"

"No, you've got to chase Young! He was here, killed Greymane and ran away! He's limping, you can still catch up with him," the wolf explained, pointing at the other door.

"Are you two…"

"Just go!" Max snarled. He wasn't going to let his father's murderer slip away.

"Got it," he assured and rushed to the other room. And then, Kaylee called him.

"Nick! He's filled his plan, now he just wants to vanish. But he has no escape plan," Kaylee warned. The fox bobbed his head once and started sprinting through the tunnels. To vanish, but without an escape plan? Nick already had an idea.

* * *

Following noises and his own instinct, Nick found Spencer Young standing at the end of the grated end of the canal. The fox was trying to slip on the other side between the bars and when Nick came, he had already almost succeeded.

"Spencer!" Nick called him and Spencer froze. For a moment, he watched the steamy waterfall below him and then, turned to Nick. He smiled joyfully.

"Detective Nicholas Wilde! You have no idea how happy I am to see you, from all the mammals," he assured and Nick said nothing. Wilde knew it wasn't going to be a simple arrest: he had to talk him out of jumping first.

"I'm here alone. We can talk all we want," he promised and Spencer looked down yet again.

"That's good. That's… really good," he admitted, staring down and then, turned at the fox again. "She was right. Hopps, she's… she's a very smart bunny, you know?" Young asked and Nick nodded, encouraging him to continue. "When we met yesterday, she told me that revenge wouldn't make me feel any better. That I'd only feel temporary satisfaction and then, nothing."

"She's seen it a lot of times," Wilde agreed and for a moment, neither of them said a word. Spencer looked dead inside; with his plan crumbling so unexpectedly, a major part of him died with it.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this. I wanted Reynolds, Wool, Sullivan and Greymane dead, it's true. I intended to betray Hamilton and Jacobs at the right moment, leave them with nothing. They all are bad mammals, rotten to the bone. All of them hurt a lot of mammals, each one everyone in their own reach. And I wanted them to have their justice."

"But you hurt others too," Nick noticed. "Kaylee, Jack Savage and…"

"I know. I hurt Kaylee, failed to see through Scarlet in time and let everything go wrong. I came back only to realize all I could change was killing Greymane. I even lost Reynolds' briefcase and with it, a chance to show the city that he was the monster here, not you," he confessed, standing at brink of mental breakdown.

"You can still tell them, Spencer. Come with me and you'll have a chance…" offered Nick.

"No," Young refused firmly. "If I let you arrest me, everyone will focus on me. They will forget about the great picture, just blame everything on the fox," Spencer pointed out and Nick couldn't disagree with his logic. "If there is a chance that city sees all the evil of past, then it's if I am not caught. And since you cannot let me go…"

"It doesn't have to end like this, Spencer. You want to be the whistleblower. You still can be the one. You know the contents of that briefcase, you can recreate it. You can bring out atrocities committed by Reynolds, Thunders and the likes of them," Nick argued and, seeing his hesitation, continued. "We all screw up and there's no shame in this, but we cannot give up. Not when we can still make a difference," he told him and Spencer considered his words carefully. But then, he shook his head.

"No, Detective. If I live now, everything I've done this far will be in vain. If I die, then maybe, just maybe, people's attention will turn in the right direction. Maybe they will start thinking like you must have started. But I appreciate the offer," Spencer Young replied and then, he let go of the bars.

"Wait!" Nick lunged toward Spencer, but he knew he never had a chance. Young started leaning back long before he could reach him. And then, the fox sunk into the steam of the waterfall. Nick made it to the bars and looked down with a shiver. Spencer Young was gone and together with him, the message he had for Zootopia.

* * *

When Nick returned to where he had previously found Max and Kaylee, police and paramedics were already swarming all over the place, but he couldn't find any of his friends anywhere. Before he managed to ask out about them, the paramedics started taking care of him. He wanted to protest at first, claiming everything was alright, but under pressure of their judging sights, he gave in: as good as Jack and Gwen's field doctor was, he needed a good week or two in hospital simply after his first stand-off with Greymane. Now dead Greymane, just like Spencer Young or Detective Sullivan. If two days earlier anyone told him it'd end up like this, Nick would laugh in their face.

"So, now to heal the wounds and back to the service, right, Detective?" Asked one of the paramedics, as they were on their way to the hospital and Nick smiled and muttered something incoherent in reply. If only it was this simple.


	21. Of demons and heroes

_12.18 pm. Thursday, August 29, 2020_

To say that in last forty-eight hours the city went insane, would be to say nothing. Despite ZPD's best intentions, media caught in this short time trails of bountiful questionable incidents from: police search and invasion on Jennifer Tompkins' house, explosions in the Watering Hole Port, crash of a police car on the island of Tundratown, massive police and medical intervention in canals at Crevasse Street, arrestment of both Joshua Morrows and Donovan Jacobs and finally, Detective Nicholas Wilde ending up in the hospital. He, together with Judy Hopps, Kaylee Crane and Maximilian Reynolds were taken to a closed ward of Zootopia General Hospital, even if neither Hopps nor Reynolds were in state requiring any serious medical intervention. With heroes of recent events beyond reach of media, ZPD gave only a short comment to whole the situation: Nicholas Wilde had been framed and now was being cleared of charges of murdering of Thomas Reynolds. His real murderers have been identified and arrested except for one: Spencer Young, who was now wanted.

This all was Chief Bogo's doing: he had taken control of the situation since the first explosions in Watering Hole Port and was now performing all the damage control he could. He'd have a lot of work in following weeks and, having covered most of the leaks, he started with the most important part: Wilde, Hopps and ZIA.

Chief met with Judy Hopps, Max Reynolds and ZIA Agent Gwyneth Skye outside the ward, but beyond reach of the intrusive news reporters. He greeted the three of them, treating Skye rather coldly; he couldn't be happy about how she waltzed into ZPD's business without informing them, even if she intended to tell them eventually. And even if she was the one to personally arrest Donovan Jacobs and deliver him to ZPD after he tried to slip away.

"What's the situation, Chief?" Asked Max.

"We're in control. It's good thing Wilde's in state bad enough to explain hospital. Otherwise, we'd probably have to arrest him temporarily," explained Bogo.

"Good thing. Mayoral poll results could not bear it," Judy noticed cynically. Mayor Ketchikan was known for his insistence on quick investigation of Reynolds' death. With whole the thing going messy and lack of any other source of information, media had no mercy for him. Bogo just stared down at her angrily.

"You are too cute to be cynical, Hopps," he warned her.

"Understood, sir," she replied, but couldn't help a smile. They entered the ward together and saw all three patients. The one that suffered most was absent Jack Savage; since identity of both agents involved in the mess was kept secret, he remained in another hospital. Kaylee Crane, who suffered a slashed wound of her leg and massive blood loss, needed time to recover. Nick Wilde's state was a bit more complicated: severe blood loss and lots of badly healed wounds that he sustained during first fight with Greymane took their toll. He had already been through an operation of paw that would help him regain full dexterity and was now advised to check in at hospital regularly.

"Hey, Chief! Good to see you!" Nick greeted Bogo and Kaylee waved her paw weakly. Max, Judy and Gwen took places by the beds and watched Chief expectantly. Whatever was going to happen next, depended on him. The water buffalo took a deep breath.

"First off, I want to thank Agent Skye and Agent Savage for their help in arresting Donovan Jacobs and Joshua Morrows, but would suggest consulting it with ZPD next time," he started watching Skye carefully. As much as without her, Jacobs would most likely slip away, he certainly wasn't pleased with ZIA walking into his field of operation without a word of warning.

"It was an action approved by the director and I would suggest you deliver the complaint to him personally," Skye noticed politely and both of them decided not to touch the topic again, at least for the time. They had enough on their heads as it was.

"And second off, I should update you on the situation," continued Bogo. "Out of six members of Spencer Young's group, Calveit, Morrows and Jacobs have been arrested. Greymane and Wool have been confirmed dead. Spencer Young is wanted, but we've failed to find him or his body this far."

"Is it really possible that he's still alive after that jump?" Max asked doubtingly.

"He had already survived one fall earlier that day. It's plausible and the body has not yet been found," Bogo stated, but from his voice you can tell he didn't really believe it. "Wilde has been officially cleared of any charges and evidence against Hamilton is already being collected. The location of content of Reynolds' briefcase remains unknown."

"Duchess should still have it," Judy assured and saw Chief's expression changing.

"Yes, I know and there have been already made… steps toward retrieving it," Bogo confirmed and all five of them watched him carefully. They had been cut off from most of the news for last two days and had not a clue what he meant.

"When?" Judy asked carefully.

"On Tuesday morning, when you were busy with Young and Calveit," explained Bogo. "Two officers from Tundratown assisted by two from Happytown searched Jennifer Tompkins' house. Officer that applied for the warrant was, already dead at the time of signing the application, Detective Sullivan. After officers found nothing, one of Tundratown officers forgot his hat and left the gate ajar, thanks to which, four thugs could break into her house and force Mrs. Tompkins to reveal briefcase's location. No one died only because the Happytown officers felt something was off and returned, arresting all four of them. Lady Tompkins left the hospital yesterday in the evening. She refused to give any details on documents' location and denied its possession," Chief Bogo explained. Those weren't good news for ZPD, especially given the implications.

"Are we sure that it was a police officer that left the gate open?" Judy asked carefully.

"We have Mrs. Tompkins, Officers Osbourne and Riverton from Happytown and house's security monitoring confirming it. Besides, the way thugs used the hat indicates it was no accident. As we speak, the guilty officers are being questioned and their Chief Blizzard is being chewed out by the media for what they believe to have been Blizzard and Thunder's attempt to get rid of the Duchess," confirmed Bogo.

"So for the moment, all the media are speaking about is ZPD blaming Nick for Max's father's murder instead of Spencer Young, our failure to find or arrest the latter, a bribed police officer from Tundratown and apparent police assistance in attempt to murder a known entrepreneur?" Kaylee summed up gloomily. One could only imagine in what light it viewed ZPD.

"Yes," confirmed Bogo tersely. There wasn't much more that could be said. Realizing their previous mistake, the media switched from blaming Nick or foxes to blaming the ZPD and they had a lot of arguments this time.

"And the documents haven't even leaked yet," added Max. He didn't know their exact content, but was aware that the papers contained a lot of dirt not only on his father, but also Tundratown ZPD in person of Chief Blizzard.

"So, what do we do now?" Judy asked. "We can try and fix it, right?"

"Tundratown ZPD will be cleansed, we've been through it before with Bellwether. Nobody's going to cover Blizzard or his nearest surrounding. Condemning their actions is the best countermeasure we have now. Not much more can be done about Spencer Young; we will either find his body or not. What we can do, is cleaning up after the disastrous case of Thomas Reynolds' murder," Chief suggested and slowly, all sights turned to Nick. After a moment of hesitation, fox just shrugged.

"Honestly, Chief, I am fed up. For last week I watched whole the city, ZPD included, dragging me through the mud calling me all the things I never was. I barely heard any police official questioning my guilt when Sullivan was in charge," he blamed Bogo, staring him straight in the eyes.

"You know how it works, Wilde. Sullivan was in charge. If I tried to protect you then, it'd look as if I'm siding with you simply because you're my officer, not for actual reasons," the water buffalo argued. "Now that I'm in charge and have decent proof, I've cleared your name immediately," he added and Nick sighed deeply.

"I know, I just… What do you have planned for us? Some conference?" Wilde asked finally. Chief's relief was almost visible.

"Yes, I want to organize a press conference with you, Hopps and Reynolds. All three of you played major roles in the investigation and each of your stances is worth highlighting to the city. So that we can show Zootopia, that their police is not just Chief Blizzard or Officer Hamilton," Bogo told them. Chief couldn't drag ZIA agents in whole the thing without compromising their identities and leaving Kaylee out was just as reasonable; she was a victim of whole the situation, rather than a hero.

"I'll run along with it, if it suits Judy and Max," Nick assured and, when neither of them protested, continued. "But I'll be there in civvies. I lost my badge anyway. And afterwards, I want a leave for an indefinite period. For medical reasons or whatever. I have mess in my head and I need to figure it out before I can return," he demanded.

"You do intend to return, then," Chief noticed.

"I don't know myself," Nick shrugged again. "I need to put things back together. Then, I will know," he explained and met Judy's concerned sight. She wasn't angry or disappointed with him, just really, really worried. She understood him and his confusion completely.

"When will the conference take a place?" Max asked.

"Tomorrow at 10 am at our station, but I will send for you much earlier," answered Chief. "You'd better prepare for a long conference with lots and lots of awkward questions. They'll want to know everything."

"Of course, Chief," all of them confirmed. They'd been through it before, they knew how it worked. With that established, Chief nodded with satisfaction and was about to leave.

"Wilde, can we speak in private?" Bogo pleased. Nick nodded, jumped off his bed and followed the Chief out of the ward. They walked an empty corridor of a closed-off section of the hospital, where almost no one could see or hear them.

"What is it, Chief?"

"You deserve an apology. An official one, in front of the cameras and all," Bogo started. With Wilde not protesting, he continued. "You will receive one from me tomorrow, but that's about all you can count on. Sullivan is dead and everyone wants to forget about Hamilton. You could probably sue couple newspapers for all the bad press they gave you, but it is a road to nowhere."

"I know, Chief," assured Nick. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I don't want you to be disappointed tomorrow. You're a good cop and everyone will want to be on your good side, but…"

"As long as they don't have to apologize," Nick finished for him. "That's exactly why I asked you for the leave. It's not whether I'm cut for the job. I just need to answer myself why I am even here, if all I get in return is… this," he explained. It'd be easy to say that he was there for Judy. By all that's good and holy, he loved her. He'd jump in fire for her without a second thought. But if she was going to be the only thing that kept him in ZPD, sooner or later, something would go wrong. He would hurt her or himself and everything would fall apart. No, Nick couldn't have such a burden on her back; he had to find a reason to carry it himself.

"The door will be always opened. And if you decide to come back, don't worry about the badge. We'll get you a new one," promised Chief Bogo with a smirk. "Until tomorrow, Wilde."

"Until tomorrow, sir," Nick replied, as the water buffalo vanished in the crowd of the journalists swarming on the other side of ward's glassed door. And then he saw someone making his way through the crowd, dodging two hospital workers and falling straight in Nick's arms to hug him warmly.

"Nick!" Exclaimed Mrs. Wilde, nearly lifting him in the air. Nick chuckled, surprised.

"Hey, mom! How are you?" He asked casually and she giggled joyously, as she continued to hug him.

"They wouldn't let me see you, those goons!" She complained, sniffling and continuing to hug hum. Nick watched the wall of reporters; everyone were taking the photos.

"Mom… people are staring," he said awkwardly.

"Are you ashamed of your own…" She was about to scold him, but then paused and saw the crowd behind her, flashing with their cameras annoyingly. "Yes, let's go somewhere more discreet." She released the hug, but wrapped her arm around his shoulders and ruffled his head's fur playfully as they disappeared from cameras' view. The Wilde family was united once again.

* * *

 _9.47 am. Friday, August 30, 2020_

Nick Wilde, Judy Hopps and Max Reynolds slipped out from the hospital with a back exit and from there, a police car took them to the police station of ZPD Precinct 1. On place, Judy and Max changed into uniforms, while Nick was given his favorite green Hawaiian shirt and grey trousers. At the sight of them, he could hardly contain a laugh.

"What?" Judy watched him carefully, as he leaned against a wall and watched a shelf of the golden trophies. All that he missed was a pair of shades and Nick, the Slick would be complete.

"I just remembered the last time I came to station in the civvies. You know, the Nighthowlers conference."

"Will you ever forget about it?" Hopps rolled her eyes.

"He'll not, Judy. You'd better find some hooks on him yourself," Max suggested appearing from nowhere. His uniform looked as if it had just been ironed. For some reason, Judy found it amusing: back when he lived in the mansion, she assumed he had service looking after it, but after he moved in with Kaylee nothing changed in that department, even today. Was he ironing them himself? Did he even know how to use an iron?

"Chief says it's time, by the way," Max added before either of them managed to say anything. "He wants to discuss couple things before the actual conference," he explained and all three of them went to meet Chief Bogo in his office. The conversation was rather short and revolving around technical issues, such as on general course of the conference, when either of them would be given the voice and short instruction on what to say that could be summed up to speaking truth and viewing themselves and ZPD in good light, in this specific order. With those instructions, Chief and three of his officers walked down to the main hall, where a crowd of journalists was already waiting. Everyone was curious of them, especially Hopps and Wilde, but they waited patiently. They knew they'd get to ask them everything later during the conference and if not, they could try afterwards.

At first, Chief stood at the scene alone with three officers waiting at the side. He started with usual greeting and terse announcement revolving murder of Thomas Reynolds and status of the group that committed it. He viewed Spencer Young as a presumably dead fox, expecting to find rather his body, than Young himself. Afterwards, he proceeded to what he found the most important part: an official apology to Detective Nicholas Wilde who had been accused of the said murder a week earlier. Nick accepted the apology, said couple meaningless, but catchy truisms and answered couple questions, the most important one, revolving his civilian dress-up, dismissing with a joke about how he lost the badge. Afterwards, Chief Bogo thanked him and continued to answer the questions himself until he invited Judy to the scene. She referred shortly the events between the murder of Thomas Reynolds and the one of Detective Sullivan.

"Detective Hopps, why were you cooperating with Detective Wilde when he was wanted instead of turning him in?" Asked one of the journalists finally. She had been waiting surprisingly long for this question.

"Both Detective Wilde and I doubted in pure intentions of officers leading the case. I decided that I could learn much more about the real murderers through cooperation," she explained.

"It wasn't by the book, though, was it? You had no official approval for such actions," someone else pointed out and Judy giggled.

"Well… ZPD has its procedures that have been carefully crafted throughout the years. Their intention is to guarantee safety to the officers while allowing them to maximize their efficiency and let them do what they're meant to do: to serve and protect the citizens. We abide them practically all the time and for ninety-nine percent of situations, they work just fine," she said, glanced at Nick quickly with a smile and continued. "But there are incidents, when they could have failed. Incidents with the intrigue running so deep that letting things take their natural course could hurt mammals and their names. In situations like this, you calculate the risk and make your own choice and then, deal with its consequences," Judy explained to the cameras. She gave her answers to couple more answers until she returned the microphone back to Chief Bogo. The water buffalo only then fully revealed details of Kaylee Crane's kidnapping and featured actions of Max Reynolds. He praised him for his considerate, but immediate decisions, trusting his instincts and taking properly calculated risks. With this introduction, he invited Max to the scene and gave the voice to him. After a short foreword, Reynolds started replying to journalists' question, most of them touching awfully personal subjects.

Just like Nick, Max handled cameras with natural easiness, even if in completely different manner. Instead of dismissing awkward questions with jokey responses, he either took them head-on, or circled around the thing long enough to satisfy everyone without actually answering questions. And, unusually for Max, he remained cool and composed, completely unprovoked by any of nasty questions he was challenged with. And then, one of journalists left him completely dumbstruck.

"Timothy Fares from Zootopia Times. I've just got info that Zootopia News Channel has just started airing some new, yet unrevealed material revolving the case, some real bomb. Could we perhaps turn on television and see it?" He pleased. Max stared at him for a moment and slowly turned to Chief Bogo.

"Well, technically… What do you say, Chief?" He asked.

"If it's a real bomb, they should give it to police first," muttered the water buffalo. "I'll switch the monitors to ZNC in a moment, if it's nothing of importance, we'll continue the conference," he agreed, reached for a pilot, clicked couple buttons and then, screens behind turned from photos of the case to the Zootopia News Channel. For a moment, they saw the news anchor, but before anyone caught the context of her announcement, the news took them to some small, shabby room. On a single bed with metal frame, sat a red panda dressed in messed up, but elegant black jacket. She looked nervous, but tried to pretend everything was alright.

 _"_ _Good afternoon. I am Megan Roth from the Voice of Tundratown, here invited by Spencer Young to talk about the recent events revolving around murder of known millionaire and philanthropist, Thomas Ezekiel Reynolds. Mr. Young, could you tell a bit about yourself?"_ she said to the camera and everyone felt chills. All four police officers and most of the journalists recognized her: she had gone missing almost two weeks earlier and hadn't been heard of since then.

The camera view changed suddenly and was now focused on the fox. Spencer smiled politely and nodded. He stared straight at the camera. Wilde shivered at that gentle confident smile, as the realization struck him. Spencer Young deceived them all, even him. He did deliver his message. And thus, he won.

 _"_ _Greetings, everyone. My name is Spencer Young and by the time you're watching this, I am long gone. Recent days were full of the most disturbing events that stirred Zootopia like rarely before, but I'd like to present to you quite a new view on it: the view of the perpetrator,"_ he explained and Chief Bogo huffed angrily.

"Reynolds, call ZNC, tell them to take it down," he ordered quietly.

"They're not picking up," replied the wolf. "And besides, someone's streaming it on ZooTube. Everyone'll see it anyway," he added and Chief Bogo cursed under his breath. There was no point interrupting it here, everyone was going to see it anyway. He glanced at Wilde. Should he have him out? No, it'd look even worse. He could only pray that Wilde wouldn't do anything stupid.

 _"_ _I should probably start my story at the very beginning," said Spencer. "I come from Happytown. My father's name was Zachary Young. Couple years before I was born, he owned Young Builders, a small business company, but was forced to sell it during the Happytown recession."_

 _"_ _Could you elaborate on it?"_ Asked Megan Roth and he nodded.

 _"_ _But of course,"_ he assured and continued. _"Like most of you probably already know, thirty years ago, Gregory Reynolds together with his son, Thomas Reynolds and his friend Frederick Thunders were making large investments in Happytown. They contracted over twenty small building companies to execute their contracts. But then, an accident happened. Thomas Ezekiel Reynolds, speeding on the brink of Happytown, slammed in side of a taxi car with speed of, basing on initial police estimations, over 100mph, resulting in immediate death of a taxi passenger: Jonathan Wilde, an local tailor on his way home. He was a known and respected mammal in the district and his sudden death raised lots of turmoil. Even more of it, when the public learnt that Thomas Reynolds was responsible for the incident, but was going to avoid punishment."_

 _"_ _Wasn't he pronounced innocent?"_ Interrupted him the journalist. Spencer smiled and nodded.

 _"_ _He was, but only due to the machinations of his family,"_ he replied. _"But back to the subject. Happytown was mad. They started massive, but peaceful protests, including halting work in any of Thunders and Reynolds' investments and a march through the district. Unfortunately, media caught the attention of it and started viewing it in negative light. Several provocations were enough to view them as actual riots and Thunders and Reynolds suddenly declared they had been forced to back out on their investments. Suddenly, all the small company they contracted had been left with nothing. They invested lots of money and time, but no one was willing to pay them for it. They went bankrupt one by one. And then, Reynolds and Thunders waltzed in yet again. They bought every single one of them for a song. Those who opposed, were forced, sometimes even killed, by Wolf Pack, local Happytown gang, who had been executing Thunders' errands since the day they were born,"_ Spencer explained emotionlessly. Max clenched his fists. He knew all of it. Judy had told him a day earlier. But to hear it from the murderer of his father, was much, much worse than he'd ever expect.

 _"_ _So your father was ruined. What did he do?"_ Wondered Miss Roth.

 _"_ _At first, he simply lived on. Found himself a job in factory, married mom. Somewhere in back of his head, he kept his previous downfall, but didn't think much of it. But then, I was born. My mother died due to the birth complications: she was in a low-class hospital where doctors didn't have much time for their patients. They failed to notice in time that something was wrong, but again no one was to be blamed. At that time, something broke in my father. I think he blamed Reynolds and Thunders for everything that happened,"_ said Spencer sadly. One could feel that the fox felt partially guilty for his mother's death too.

 _"_ _Do you think he was right?"_

 _"_ _Maybe. Partially. But he believed it fully and devoted himself fully to prove it. Between work and raising me, he started gathering evidences of their role in the recession. Everything he could put his paws on. Since ever I remembered, he worked on it constantly, while making sure to be the best parent I could have. And then, one day he just…"_ Visible creeps ran through Spencer's body. _"I was in first class of elementary school. My house was just a street away, so when dad didn't come after me or pick up his phone, two teachers walked me home. Inside, we found my father. He had hanged himself,"_ Spencer confessed, took a deep breath and continued. _"He left a suicide note addressed to me, apologizing and explaining that he couldn't live with his failure anymore. Police labeled the case as exemplary suicide. There were some ambiguities, but no one cared enough about some random fox. I was put in an orphanage outside Happtown. As a predator in mostly prey group, I had some real tough time, but life went on."_

 _"_ _For a time,"_ guessed Miss Roth.

 _"_ _For a time. At my eighteenth birthday, I received a small package: a key and code to a safe in Zootopia National Bank. In there, I found copies of all of my father's findings together with a short, explanatory note: he knew he had made a mistake and Thunder's men were on to him. He wanted me to take what he had found this far and do whatever I wanted with it: burn it, publish it, continue his research. Just don't let them find that I had it before it goes viral."_

 _"_ _Was it when you decided to murder Thomas Reynolds?"_ Asked the journalist, but he just shook his head.

 _"_ _No. I was furious, but I was even more terrified. These mammals murdered my dad and I wanted to live. I had a girlfriend,"_ he explained and laughed at how trivial it sounded. _"I've just got a scholarship, so I could go to a course of my dreams in Zootopia University. I had way too much to live for. I just put the files back in the safe, locked them and tried to forget about them. It lasted for most of the studies."_

 _"_ _Until the Mauler case?"_ The journalist guessed and Spencer confirmed.

 _"_ _Precisely,"_ he nodded. _"Everyone surely heard of it, but I was a student of Zootopia University and ended up in middle of everything. Out of first six victims, I personally knew four, two of whom were my close friends. Everyone was terrified. University decided to close their clubs since it was near them that murders were committed, but murders kept occurring. As the chairman of Student Circle of Robotics, I decided to act. I started organizing mammals from my nearest surrounding so that no one would come back alone. It worked: no one else from my friends or SCR was murdered, even if Mauler continued his attacks. And then, I made a mistake of staying late at university and coming back on my own. Mauler found me and attacked. By sheer luck, he didn't kill me with the first blow, but he had me cornered. I don't know if you've ever experienced it, but when you're cornered, when you realize that if you do nothing, you will die, something breaks in you. On that evening, I fought like a beast. Eventually, I fended him off somehow, but ended up in the hospital."_

 _"_ _You were the last victim of the Mauler, weren't you?"_ Realized the reporter.

 _"_ _And the only one that survived actual confrontation. There was one rabbit that managed to flee him, but didn't really see the guy. Detective Sullivan who was in charge had questioned me throughoutly, but except for his general description and certainty that he was too old to be a student, he didn't learn much. Probably nothing that he didn't already know. My memories were blurred."_

 _"_ _That is understandable,"_ assured Miss Roth.

 _"_ _But I remembered that I fought him off. I figured that if I did it once, then maybe if I had an element of surprise, I could get him. It was a naïve thought, but I started investigating on my own. Finally, I found a pattern of his attacks."_

 _"_ _What do you mean?"_ The journalist sounded intrigued.

 _"_ _First several kills before University closed some of student clubs were random. But afterwards, the victims seemed to have been pin-pointed: they were mammals that would often return late and alone and Mauler would often hunt for them far from the University itself. He couldn't be so lucky to find so many victims without anyone noticing him lurking around, which meant he had intel from someone who knew all the victims."_

 _"_ _A student?"_ Guessed Miss Roth.

 _"_ _Precisely. I started to look for someone that could know all the victims. Eventually, I found him: a sheep named Lucas Wool, a construction student my age. I followed him around for a moment and eavesdropped his phone conversation with Mauler: he was promising that he'd set me up again. Few days later, I confronted him."_

 _"_ _Why didn't you go to ZPD?"_ Asked the journalist.

 _"_ _I wanted to know for sure before I give them anything. Lucas was a coward. He confessed everything, especially how Mauler, a wolf named Gerard Greymane, threatened to kill him if Lucas wouldn't help him finding new victims. With this knowledge, I was left with two options: to go to ZPD like you suggested or deal with Greymane on my own."_

 _"_ _You didn't go to ZPD, did you?"_

 _"_ _No. I wanted to kill Greymane with my own paws,"_ Spencer confessed shamefully. _"I made a mistake of coming to his flat. I had a kitchen knife with me and pepper spray, thought that it would be enough. I sneaked into his flat around the dawn and, pretty sure he was in his bed, sneaked to his bedroom. But before I drew knife, Greymane appeared at the entrance door and locked it behind himself. I was trapped with Mauler in his tiny flat."_

 _"_ _Did you kill him?"_ Miss Roth doubted, but he shook his head.

 _"_ _I realized I wouldn't have a chance. So I did what I do best. I started lying. I sold him some made up story, claiming that I had some messed up Stockholm Syndrome, that I was actually impressed and that I wanted to help him. I claimed to him that I'd be better than Wool in finding new victims and he believed me. Greymane wasn't really smart and it saved my life. I walked out of his flat having promised him that I'd give him Wool soon and then, continue to find the new victims."_

 _"_ _You talked yourself out of breaking someone's flat with a knife?"_ The journalist could hardly believe it.

 _"_ _Like I said, Greymane wasn't super smart. The Mauler just wanted to maul. Thanks to that, I had some time to make a choice: to turn Mauler to ZPD or kill him myself. But I wasn't given to choose."_

 _"_ _What happened?"_

 _"_ _ZPD,"_ Spencer spat these three letters. _"Detective Sullivan arrested me during Student Circle of Robotics meeting in front of over one hundred of my colleagues and my girlfriend. When I tried to ask them to wait half an hour to finish the meeting, they tranquilized me, handcuffed and walked out like a criminal."_

 _"_ _Why would they do it?"_ Asked the journalist, even if those details were known to the public.

 _"_ _I later learnt that ZPD had been watching me since Mauler attacked me. They thought that I either killed or was the Mauler. Detective Sullivan tried to intimidate me into a confession that would allow him to close the case one way or another. But even if I knew who Mauler was, I told him nothing. He despised me just because I was a fox and he didn't bother hiding it. I couldn't allow someone like him have all the glory for something he did not find out. I told him nothing and they released me due to the lack of evidence. I returned to University to realize mammals such as Lucas Wool were spreading gossips that I was the actual Mauler. I was nearly detained over the situation."_

 _"_ _You must have been furious."_

 _"_ _It was my tipping point. A straw that broke camel's back. Everything I endured so far: loss of parents, tough years of orphanage, learning of Reynolds' intrigue, having lost close friends to the Mauler, was now topped with this ridiculous accusation and the gossips that were born with it. I was sick of the world looking down on me and the likes of me just because we were foxes. Because it's easy to blame us. I decided it was time I proved Zootopia that they were wrong."_

 _"_ _Why didn't you go to the media with what you had?"_ Wondered Miss Roth.

 _"_ _Because it was not enough. My story wasn't earth-shaking enough and dad's work on Reynolds and Thunders was incomplete. It lacked very, very much at the time, especially in matter of actual proof. I needed to create my own story employing what I already had. I had Lucas shut up with a threat that I'd give him away and persuaded Greymane to give it a year or two for things to quiet down. I withdrew father's materials from the National Bank and studied them. I hired a trusted detective to dig around with some of the documents I gave to him. I learnt that Thomas Reynolds had his own collections of the dirt on his pals somewhere in the mansion, later I learnt where. And then, Donovan Jacobs was arrested and set a reward for his freedom. I started conveying my plan and all pieces started falling into place slowly. I approached Officer Hamilton and bribed her, had Lucas Wool, Greymane and my girlfriend, ice-hearted Scarlet Calveit working with me for, as they believed, money. But in reality, I had three quite different purposes. Firstly and least importantly, old good revenge. I sought death of the ones that were everything that was wrong with the city: cowardly and backstabbing racist Lucas Wool, a rotten, biased cop in person of Detective Sullivan, the insane murderer Gerard Greymane aka "Mauler" and finally, Thomas Ezekiel Reynolds: wolf that murdered and ruined for money more mammals than one could even imagine. Secondly, I intended to ruin plenty other mammals that were inflicted in my plan: Officer Victoria Hamilton, Donovan Jacobs and Fredrick Thunders to name the few. None of them deserve more than misery. Thirdly and most importantly, I was going to prove Zootopia how wrong it is in creating its own heroes and demons. I wanted to give them a paragon and a villain, let them glorify the former and condemn the latter. And then, I wanted to show them that they mistook one for another."_

 _"_ _Who would they be?"_ Asked Miss Roth and Spencer chuckled. Everyone watching him felt chills down their spines, as they realized whom he meant.

 _"_ _Isn't it obvious? Thomas Reynolds and Detective Nicholas Wilde. In act of personal vengeance, I murdered Thomas Reynolds and burnt all paintings of his wife but one that I claimed I intended to sell. I lured Wilde to Reynolds' mansion that night, tipped Hamilton off and from then on, let the things go with their own course. I stepped back and started preparing my petty vengeance allowing you to do the rest. Mind you, it was Detective Sullivan that was in charge of the investigation, not bribed Hamilton. It was him that announced Wilde was the murderer before they even managed to arrest him. It was the newspapers and other media that spread the accusation throughout the city and reassured it in everyone's minds. And in meanwhile, you made a martyr out of Thomas Reynolds. A saint of Zootopia!"_ Spencer snorted with disdain. _"Those few that knew the truth behind him concealed it deeply and allowed the others to raise him to the skies. But you were all wrong. Wilde was the hero here. He thought Reynolds was in danger, so he charged in without a second thought. Despite how city kept scrutinizing him, he worked hard to find the true killers and clear his name. Despite the odds. And Reynolds…"_ At that moment, Spencer reached for something and then, shown to camera thick pile of papers. _"This is a copy of all evidence my father and I gathered against Reynolds, Thunders and others, confirming truthfulness of my today's testimony. If everything goes according to my plan, the moment you see this video, copies of it will be reaching every single newspaper and news station in the city with the originals hopefully ending up in ZPD's paws. Verifying it will obviously take time and not everyone will believe me, but truth will be eventually unveiled. You have mistaken your demons for your heroes, city of Zootopia. I hope you learn from this mistake to commit it never again."_ Spencer paused and looked toward the camera with cold satisfaction. And then his expression changed suddenly to much light-hearted one.

 _"_ _To the innocent ones I hurt in the process, especially Detective Wilde and Miss Roth that's been holding this interview, I apologize deeply, even if I don't expect either of you to forgive me. And, I'd have forgotten, Miss Roth can be found in the cellar of an empty house at Drift Street 182. The supplies I'm leaving her with should suffice till middle of September, but I'd suggest you to hurry anyway. That would be all. Thank you for attention, city of Zootopia,"_ Spencer finished and then, the screen went black. Chief switched TVs back to photos from the case. He was visibly furious that someone even allowed such material to be published on public television.

"What a madman," gasped someone in the crowd interrupting the awkward silence.

"Maybe he is," Wilde muttered, but some mammals in front heard him and their sights focused on the fox slowly. His expression was serious, but as enigmatic as always.

"Detective Wilde, do you approve Spencer Young's actions?" One of the journalists asked carefully. Nick approached the microphone, excused Max and took his place on the stand. He watched all the journalists emotionlessly.

"Spencer Young murdered or orchestrated deaths of four mammals. He caused two blackouts, kidnapped two mammals and prepared a prison break. When he lost control of the situation on Tuesday morning, he threatened lives of at least four police officers. None of these actions is anyhow excusable," Nick declared firmly and took a deep breath. He knew no supervisor of his would ever approve what he was about to say, but the moment was right and he would not be given another chance. "But in all the evil he has committed, he was right in one thing. It wasn't Spencer Young that called an innocent mammal a murderer. It wasn't Spencer Young who dragged him through mud in front of whole the city simply to boost their viewer ratings. It wasn't Spencer Young that, once the truth was revealed, is pretending that his actions brought no harm. Ladies and gentlemen, it was you," Nick threw the accusation right in their faces and for a moment, everyone fell silent. Chief didn't take his microphone away only because it was already too late. Max and Judy watched him in complete silence. And then, journalists started protesting all at once. Nick looked down at them. He knew it worked like Bogo had said back in the hospital: no one was at fault personally and no one was going to apologize to him. It was the city that accused him and considered guilty. Still, it felt no easier at all. In fact, it felt only worse, as if 'they' were getting away with it.

"That would be everything from me for today. Thank you for attention," Nick said finally and walked down the scene. The crowd of journalists surrounded him demanding more explanations, among which was the answer if he was going to continue serving in ZPD, but Nick Wilde left the station without a word more. When mammals stopped crowding around him finally, Judy appeared at his side from nowhere. He smiled at her sight.

"You left them on their own?" He worried.

"I couldn't leave you on your own, could I?" She pointed out and for a moment, they walked in complete silence. "How are you feeling?"

"I snapped. Spencer hit me right in the soft point," he confessed shamefully.

"It wasn't that bad. You didn't cause riots like I once happened to," Judy pointed out with a smirk, but he barely smiled. "You were right to be angry with them."

"I need a break. A week or two with none of Zootopia," stated the fox.

"What would you say for Bunny Burroughs?" Judy suggested. "I'll talk to Chief and we could leave even today," she offered and Nick smiled. Of course, she was going with him. He wouldn't dare to ask her, but he knew there never was a need.

"Tomorrow. We have couple places I need to go before we leave," he insisted. There were at least three mammals that he needed to see, but he already knew what meeting he couldn't miss. The only mammal in whole Zootopia that would help Spencer Young deliver his message throughout the city: Lady Jennifer Tompkins.


	22. Of matter of point

_12.26 pm. Friday, August 30, 2020_

Frederick Thunders knew when to step back. He knew when "to step back" meant packing all your possessions into a single briefcase and ordering a private jet abroad. He realized quite well that under these very circumstances, it also implied paying your chauffer fifty thousand dollars in cash for not stopping for the police control, luckily losing the chase eventually. Now, Frederick Thunders was making his way through the airfield, just nearing his jet when the sirens roared behind him. Three police cars stopped right behind him and cops emerged from it with their guns.

"Drop the suitcase! Paws high in the air!" They yelled and Thunders turned around with surrender. And then, he saw a familiar, rather old grey wolf, getting out of his car.

"Don't worry, I've got it. We'll handle it like gentlemen," he assured and, together with another, much younger but similar wolf, approached Mr. Thunders.

"Ah, Johnny Alvarez. And this is your son, Mike?" Thunders greeted them quietly with a smile of relief. These were his men.

"Greetings, sir. It does not look good, I'm afraid," Alvarez warned.

"Who tipped you off?" Thunders asked, already knowing the answer.

"Jennifer Tompkins. We had to go after you," the cop explained.

"Of course. So, what now?" Thunders asked, eyeing the other cops standing in the back. None of them came from Tundratown, which meant Alvarezes and him were alone in this.

"You grab my gun, it's unlocked. Shoot Mike, push me away, keep shooting blindly and use the chaos to ran back to the plane. Hopefully, you'll make it there. From then, you're on your own, sir," explained Johnny Alvarez and his son nodded.

"You're a good man," Thunders put a paw on his shoulder and at this same moment, reached for his gun. He shot Mike, pushed his father away and shooting behind himself, lunged toward the plane. Somehow, he got there unscratched, pressed the door-locking button and then, felt a sting of a dart straight in the heart. In front of him was standing an old sheep in a police uniform.

"And for a moment I thought that Alvarez might be an OK guy. But who was a sellout, remains a sellout, huh?" Detective Barnes pointed out, as Fredrick Thunders dropped his gun and slipped on one of the chairs. Elk cursed in his mind. So that's how it'd come to an end; just inches from freedom.

* * *

 _12.26 pm. Friday, August 30, 2020_

After the events in Watering Hole Port, Jack Savage had been taken to Mercy Hospital in Meadowlands. According to files, he was here due to an incident completely unrelated with recent murders, which was perfectly understandable decision: while ZIA had to admit they assisted Wilde and Hopps from some point, they didn't want to reveal identities of the agents involved, at least while whole the city was still buzzing with emotions. Judy Hopps, who hadn't seen Jack since the Tuesday morning, decided to pay him a visit at least now, when she still had a chance.

With a bouquet in her paw, Judy walked to the reception and was given the directions to Jack's ward. Savage was held in a small, one-bed room with a huge window turned to west. The rabbit himself looked a bit weary, but overall not so bad if you ignored the aperture he was connected to. He was reading a book when Judy came, but the moment he noticed her, he put it aside immediately.

"Judy!" He exclaimed joyfully.

"Hey, Jack! Nick wanted to come too, but he needed to visit his mom. There's so many things we need to do all at once…" she hugged him and handed him the flowers.

"It's cool, I'm surprised you found time for me anyway. Um…" He hesitated watching the flowers. Thought that those could be the first ones he ever got, amused Judy for some reason. "There's a vase over there, could you pour some water and… thanks. I hope Gwen won't be jealous," he chuckled, as Judy grabbed a vase and filled it partially with water. She then planted the flowers in it and put it on the nightstand next to bed, while she sat on a chair just next to it.

"Are you two a thing?" Judy asked curiously and Jack blushed a bit.

"No, no, I just… you know," he explained awkwardly.

"Mhm," Judy nodded and said nothing more. For a moment, they remained in silence she seemed to awfully enjoy.

"So… I've watched the press conference," Jack decided to change the subject. "Nick really was mad, wasn't he? Young must have hit him right in the spot."

"Was it that visible?" Judy worried.

"Well, he contained it neatly, but if you know Nick, you knew that he was furious. And honestly, I'm not even surprised. The things mammals were saying about him in recent weeks…"

"True. And how are you doing, Jack? Skye said you took quite a beating," Judy worried.

"Beating? Nah, just a dynamite to the face," he chuckled. "I've been some real mess, but doctors say that I need just couple weeks and I can be back in the action. Oh, and I still can't hear a thing with left ear," for some reason, Jack seemed proud of that last part.

"Wow. How did you even survive that?" Hopps asked and he just shrugged.

"When I saw Morrows with dynamite, I jumped through car's open door and then, the window, on the other side of the van. It got me far enough from the explosion to have a chance," explained Jack. "And I'm not repeating that ever again," he sworn.

"I can imagine. And how did it go with your boss? He couldn't be happy about how things slipped out of control," Judy worried, but he just waved it off.

"It was our own fault. We declared we can handle it, just the two of us. We were certain Spencer Young wouldn't try anything funny," admitted the rabbit.

"You were not wrong," Judy added.

"Yeah, but we forgot about Calveit. Since no one died… Except for Greymane, that is… Boss decided it'll serve as a decent lesson to us. Especially me. Still, we owe you an apology. In the hindsight, we screwed up lots of things. We had no real backup plan for an exchange. We didn't secure your safety under arrest. We assumed way too much," Jack stated bitterly. Of course no one could predict the specific outcomes, but when situation off-tracked dramatically, Jack and Gwen found themselves heavily improvising. Whole that showdown was a massive game of errors and everything ended up fine only because in crucial moments, it was Scarlet Calveit and her accomplices that committed mistakes, not them.

"It's alright, Jack," Judy assured.

"No, it's not and for that, I apologize," he refused.

"Apology accepted. But for the matter of speaking, too many things were happening behind our backs to keep track of everything."

"There always are too many things happening behind our backs," Jack pointed out. "But I guess it doesn't matter anymore. What was done, is done. City will make a scapegoat out of Calveit and Young and since Wilde rightfully refused to take his new role, they will eventually fill the void of no hero with someone else. Life goes on."

"It's not that simple," Judy disagreed.

"Depends for whom. Most mammals will have a deep, five-minute reflection on what happened here, if hopefully even so, and then move on. The thing will pop out couple times more, when Calveit stands before the court, Tundratown ZPD goes through their cleanse or when mayoral elections start, but nothing beyond that," Jack stated, deprived of any delusions. "Young's words hurt because they were true, but his actions affected personally… what, twenty mammals? Thirty?"

"Do you think it had any point, then? Everything that he has done?" Judy asked. She did not hate Spencer Young, but pitied him. And thought that all his actions could have been for nothing was making her even sadder. It was unfair. Something this evil and crafted with such care had to have an impact.

"Of course, it did. He didn't turn our lives by 180 degrees, but he showed all of as a different angle, even if through radical actions. Maybe when there appears someone like old Reynolds or Thunders, proper mammals will intervene this time," Jack assured.

"It's a good thought, isn't it? That everything that he'd committed might have some positive result eventually," pointed out Judy.

"That was his initial idea after all," agreed Savage. "But enough of him. What was done is done and I need a break from that sad fox. Media will be tormenting him for next few weeks anyway."

"So what are your plans for next few weeks?" Judy changed the subject.

"Convalescence, hopefully away from hospital. Director says he'll have some job for us far away once we're both back in action, but we have time," he said.

"Far away? Where exactly?" Judy asked curiously.

"Director mentioned the Old World," smirked Jack.

"O, ho. Over the ocean? It's quite a journey," she admitted.

"Yeah, I'm excited too. How about you?" He asked.

"Just casual Bunny Burroughs vacation with Nick," she shrugged. "We need a break too."

"Countryside sounds decent. It must be nice to be from so far away, so that when you're fed up with things here, you just can say: 'screw this, I'm out' and drive like three-hundred miles away to your cozy bedroom in parents' house," Jack pointed out and Judy chuckled.

"It's… convenient at times," she assured. "But otherwise, it's only annoying that you have to travel said three-hundred miles to see your family."

"I can imagine," Jack smirked. "Maybe I'll drop in? If Skye and Director allow, that is. I think they already have enough of me busting into my old friends' lives."

"Speaking of old friends, how did Duchess know that you're even alive?" Judy asked suddenly. Jack mumbled something and then, chuckled nervously.

"Well, that's an awkward story of how I almost got fired. Long story short, I bumped at her in a shop and she generously kidnapped me," he explained awkwardly. "Skye was pissed. You can't even imagine how badly."

"Trust me, I can," Judy assured, even if she didn't quite believe his story just yet. "She actually kidnapped you?"

"Uh-huh. With a bag on my head, ride in a trunk and everything. Wanna hear it?" He offered and Judy gladly agreed. The story he told her with bountiful details was certainly one of the funnier ones she had heard in a while. Before she even noticed, what was supposed to be a short visit, turned into a whole afternoon.

* * *

 _6.07 pm. Friday, August 30, 2020_

When police searched Nick's flat, they broke the lock in order to get in. The only reason why his cozy apartment wasn't looted or devastated in result, was because his mother was told of it and hired a locksmith to install a new one. With the new keys that she gave him on a visit earlier that day, the fox was able to enter it. Inside, he expected some real mess after search, but was pleasantly surprised: everything seemed tided up and at its place. The one that did so, also bothered to clean whole the apartment at his absence. Nick smirked, as he swiped with a finger through a random shelf and caught not even a speck of dust.

"Mother, you are a true gem," he said to himself and walked over to the kitchen. It was about time for dinner and, most of the products in his fridge were already inedible just like he expected. After a short hesitation whether he's lazy enough for cereals to sate him, he grabbed a phone with intention of ordering some Chinese food. And then, he heard knocking. Quite confused, the fox put the phone down and walked the door, wondering who could it be. Certainly not Judy; they planned to visit the Duchess late in the evening. Probably the journalists.

Fox opened the door, but saw no expected cameras or microphones. Instead, in front of him stood a rather short raccoon dressed casually, but elegantly. He smiled with relief as Nick opened the door and didn't seem to notice fox's rather ambivalent feelings about the guest. Wilde recognized him immediately: it was mayor Ketchikan.

"Detective, I'm so happy to have caught you! Could you spare me couple minutes?" Mayor Ketchikan smiled charmingly, as if he was trying to buy himself Wilde's vote in next elections.

"Please come inside," the fox suggested opening the door wider and let the raccoon in. The guest thanked him with a nod and the two of them sat by the table in the dining room.

"Something to drink, mayor? Coffee? Tea?" Suggested the host.

"Some black tea would be just fine," decided the mayor and Nick set the kettle on, prepared two teas, poured the boiling water into cups the moment it was done and brought the two of them, spoons and sugar to the table where mayor sat.

"Ah, thank you!" He inhaled his tea's aroma deeply and smiled to Nick, shaking his head. "What a crazy time we're having right now, aren't we?" He pointed out and the fox nodded.

"Without a question," he played with a spoon and mayor watched his bandaged left paw carefully.

"How is it?"

"It should heal up in weeks," Nick assured. "Doctor said that soon, it shouldn't be causing any troubles."

"Finally some good news," he said with relief and for a moment, the two of them remained silent. Nick waited patiently while mayor gathered his thoughts.

"I watched your today's conference," Ketchikan stated finally.

"Oh, half the city already has. I bet everyone'll be rebroadcasting it like mad for next week," Nick shrugged it off and mayor couldn't disagree.

"The city is shocked, Detective. Disgusting amount of evil was revealed suddenly, both very old and…" the mayor eyed his host. "…and very recent. But it was your performance that shocked most of us. When you told the journalists that accusations against you were in fact their fault… We all felt the burden, Detective. We all felt guilty, because most of us, I have to shamefully admit, believed ZPD when they called you a murderer," confessed mayor.

"You had your own role in that," Nick pointed out and he didn't have to elaborate on the thought for mayor to know what he meant. The raccoon sighed deeply and looked down awkwardly.

"I know I did ask Chief Blizzard to arrest the murderer quickly, but I meant the real murderer, Detective. If I knew my actions only encouraged Sullivan to fall for Spencer Young's intrigue… but hell itself is paved with good intentions, am I right?" The mayor admitted his own mistake and Nick nodded.

"I'm afraid so, sir," he agreed.

"And we've all learnt our lesson. It was painful and embarrassing, but Spencer Young played us all and threw his accusations straight in our faces. And now, it's the time we proved him wrong," mayor caught Nick's sight and continued. "Zootopia is a marvelous city, full of diverse, open-minded mammals. We have seen it at its lowest, but now it's time we stand back up and show everyone our highest. We have to learn from our mistakes, so that we do not repeat them ever again. But we can't do it without you, Detective Wilde," mayor assured, as he put on the table a police badge. "I've heard you lost it. I figured you'd like it back," he pushed it to the fox and Nick grabbed the badge and watched it in silence. And then, he chuckled.

"Nice speech. You must have practiced it whole afternoon, huh?" He asked cynically. Mayor Ketchikan tried to protest, but Nick was quicker. "First of all, 'we' have nothing to prove to Spencer Young. In three months, 'our' official line will be that this poor insane fox died in that waterfall, so that the city can consider their villain punished adequately to his crimes. Secondly, 'you' can persuade the city 'we' won without 'my' help. In fact, you will do it without me. I might have grown to sort of a symbol because of recent events and without me, your poll results will lose couple percent points, but I'm sure you will handle it. Just promote Max to a detective and give him a medal and lots of airtime, you know how that works. Thirdly, I think Spencer already proved to us that sweeping dirt under carpet is a recurring tactic around here," muttered Nick, playing with the badge in his paws until he dropped it on the table with silent thud. "And finally, I appreciate the attempt, but it's not my badge. I'd suggest you return it to whomever you borrowed it from, mayor," he finished and mayor slowly reached for the badge.

"The city needs you more than ever, Wilde," Ketchikan told him.

"No, the city wants me more than ever," Wilde corrected the mayor angrily. "They want me on their side, so they can pat each other on their backs and congratulate each other, because they're not the bad guys here after all. Spencer Young is, obviously. He's the only self-righteous murderer here."

"I'm just asking you…"

"To step back in the line, mayor. You want me to put back the uniform, smile to the cameras and say: 'Hey, everything's alright!', when it's not. And if we claim otherwise, Reynolds and Thunders' atrocities will remain revealed, but beyond that, nothing will change. No one will learn a thing," Nick stated and saw in mayor's face that he agreed with him, probably from the very start. "If I come back now, everything that happened, all the hideous crimes that Spencer committed…" Suddenly, Wilde felt chills, as he realized he was practically quoting Spencer's words from just before he jumped. "All of them would be in vain."

"So that's it? You let him win?" Asked the mayor helplessly.

"Wasn't it a well-deserved victory? He tried you and most mammals fell for it. Cops not always win, mayor. Sometimes, things don't go quite as planned and, in grand scheme of things, it usually is far more educational for everyone. Even if far more painful," Nick pointed out and for quite a moment, mayor Ketchikan said not a word, just sipped his tea reflecting on their conversation. He genuinely understood Nick and his stance there and fox had to give it to him, that at this moment he felt far more humane than any mayor he had crossed his paths with.

"So, what do you plan now?" He asked finally.

"I'm not planning anything," replied Nick tersely.

"Sounds fair," admitted Ketchikan. He finished his tea and stood up from the table. "Thank you for hosting me, Detective. I'm glad we explained these things to each other," he sounded honest about it, if not too enthusiastic about the result.

"So am I, mayor. Have a nice evening," Nick bid him, as he walked the mayor to the door.

"So do you. Oh, Detective?" Mayor Ketchikan stopped at the doorstep. "I'd be more than happy to bump accidentally at you on duty, sometime in not-so-distant future," he said with a weak smile. Nick shrugged.

"Who wouldn't nowadays?" Was all that he said. Ketchikan chuckled, wished Wilde all the best once again and closed the door behind himself. Nick came back to the dining room, grabbed both cups and started washing them. As he was drying them, he dwelled on the thought he was trying to expel from his mind before. Did he agree with Spencer Young? Well, partially. His ideals were right: to expose the corruption of those most respected. But the means he chose were unacceptable and if Nick could choose again, he'd give his best to stop him again. But now that the harm was already done, Zootopia could at least learn from these events.

* * *

 _9.39 pm. Friday, August 30, 2020_

The alley leading to the main entrance to Duchess's "Diamond" was as well-lit as usual and traditionally secured by two tigers guards in suits. They watched Nick and Judy carefully, as the two approached them.

"Detectives Wilde and Hopps. We need to speak with the Duchess," Nick said and tigers opened the door immediately. Fox and bunny looked at each other, as they walked in; so she was expecting them. Inside, everything turned much, much darker and Judy grabbed her partner by elbow, as he made his way to the stairs leading to the Duchess. At their base, they were searched, their phones and Judy's carrot pen taken away and then, allowed to proceed. They climbed the stairs slowly. Before her balcony stood another two guards that let them pass without a word. And then, there was Duchess, sitting in her couch and dressed as charmingly as usual. She looked rather weary, had bandages covering her left paw and both Nick and Judy noticed a new scar running through her lip. As rarely, Lionel O'Dyna was nowhere to be found. Lady Tompkins smiled weakly.

"Ah, Detectives. Please take your seats," she suggested and both of them sat down. Duchess wrote something on her laptop quickly, closed it and moved aside as she turned to the two of them. "I knew you wouldn't keep me hanging."

"I want to thank you for all the help we received from you. I don't know how it'd end without Jack's help," the fox started and she smirked.

"I know your type, Nicholas. First one to charge, last one to ask for help. Guys like you keep dying young," she pointed out and turned to Judy. "I heard charges are being pressed against Okami and Rockfield as we speak. I consider our deal resolved."

"So do I," agreed the bunny. "And while I'm thankful for your help to Nick, I think we have something to discuss. Your connections with Spencer Young, to be precise," she explained and then, Duchess chuckled. She could imagine why they'd think she worked with him all along.

"I'd like to point out that Spencer Young backstabbed, sometimes literarily, everyone that he worked with, including his own girlfriend. As much as Reynolds' death and Thunders' arrestment please me, I didn't know anything until the evening Wilde came to my club," she stated without a second thought.

"We don't claim you worked with him from the start. We're just saying that you helped him have his message published throughout whole Zootopia. You've spoken of a grand political statement someone would soon deliver before, haven't you?" Nick clarified their accusation.

"I bet ZPD will investigate why ZNC published it without warning the police and I bet they'll realize I am not the only mammal to hate Thunders and Reynolds. They have plenty of their own enemies, such as ZNC director himself. And besides, according to the news, the movie leaked to Internet almost an hour before ZNC rebroadcasted it," she replied, clearly enjoying herself. "No wonder they hurried to be the first ones to announce it to the world, as morally questionable as it would be."

"So you had nothing to do with it? And you don't know where Spencer is?" Judy asked, but Lady Tompkins shook her head.

"I know you want to close this case and you'd suspect me because I gained a lot and I was searching for Young on my own, but when I saw his announcement, I returned the papers you gave me to ZPD and allowed you guys to handle it. While you were fighting for your and Officer Crane's lives, I almost lost my children. I know when to step aside," she explained firmly and both police officers realized they shouldn't push their luck. Without actual proof, they'd prove her nothing and they didn't even know where to search.

"Of course," Judy nodded with understanding. "Well then, I apologize for the accusation."

"Don't bother, it's your job. Or is it still, Nicholas?" Duchess watched the fox carefully. He hesitated for a moment.

"We'll see," he only replied.

"Understandable. In case you grew tired of ZPD, I am still looking for a barista. Someone that can handle drinks and has a nice talk. With some training, you could do just fine and trust me, it'd just as exciting as ZPD used to be," she offered with a wink and it took Nick a moment to realize she wasn't mocking him.

"I'll keep it in mind," Nick promised. "Once again, thank you."

"Oh, it's pleasure to be helping you out. You made me feel like back in the old days, Nicholas. Breaking into houses and laughing into police's face," the Duchess assured with a smirk. Nick just nodded and Judy muttered her own goodbye. With everything that they had to say having been said, the two of them walked down the stairs and got their phones and Judy's pen back. As they were nearing the exit, Judy watched club's crowd.

"Since we're here, what do you say we have some good time?" She suggested.

"Isn't it too loud for you in here?" He pointed out skeptically. "And besides, if we want to leave tomorrow we should… Ah, whatever. I heard they have some awesome Margarita in here," he gave up finally. He really needed to steam off a bit.

They walked over to the bar counter and took their seats. Judy looked around for barista and then, she noticed how Nick was staring at her with a weak smile.

"What?"

"Nothing," he replied, but his eyes told him everything.

* * *

 _9.47 pm. Friday, August 30, 2020_

Officer William Osbourne, like any other Friday night, was spending this evening with two of his best friends from ZPD: a wolf Mark Moonstone and a tiger, Barry Laveran. The two wolves were sitting by the counter, having a casual conversation with Will watching Duchess's balcony. And then, Barry returned with his usual smirk on his face.

"What'cha doing, losers?" He asked.

"You know, the usual. Will's still staring at his Rapunzel's balcony, hoping that one day, she'll look out and notice him too," Mark mocked his buddy.

"And whisper softly to his ear: _'get lost, you creep!',_ " chuckled Barry.

"Well, at least I am not an old prick hitting on teenagers," riposted Will angrily. That tiger was really pissing him off sometimes.

"It's fun," Barry shrugged and sat by Mark. "At least I'm trying, not just sitting and whining instead."

"At least I haven't had three divorces in last decade," Will's riposte came immediately.

"At least I…"

"Guys, guys, stop it. Both of you are equally pathetic," Moonstone interrupted their little quarrel. "Actually, you're so pathetic that I can't stand watching your sorry faces soberly anymore. Hey, you!" He waved at the nearest barista, even though he was already serving someone else. "Beers for the two most pathetic living beings in entire Zootopia and me! It's on me!" He yelled.

"Keep it down, everyone's staring," muttered Will. "Hey, are those Wilde and Hopps?" He pointed at the couple their barista was serving at the moment.

"Yup, looks like them," agreed Mark and sipped the rest of his beer.

"See, even they're going out together. And you're sitting here, staring at Duchess's balcony and praying for her to look out. It's sad," the tiger pointed out.

"Barry…" Mark tried to stop him.

"Seriously, dude. Just put an end to it," Barry Laveran reached for his wallet and put a greenback on the counter. "One hundred bucks says the moment you walk up there, she'll laugh into your face and say no."

"Barry…" Mark insisted, but it was futile effort. Will snorted angrily.

"Go rut yourself, will you?" Will reached for his wallet and slammed another one hundred dollars on the counter. "I'm going." He jumped off his chair and disappeared in the crowd. His two friends watched him approaching stairs to Duchess's spot: Barry with a smirk, Mark with horror.

"You're going to get him hurt," muttered the wolf.

"Maybe I am. But maybe he'll finally stop whining," replied the tiger.

* * *

It was a bad idea. As Will passed by the guards at the base of stairs that took his phone, he realized that it was probably the stupidest idea in his life and in case of William Osbourne, such statement really stood for something. The wolf was slowly climbing the stairs, his heart hammering stronger and stronger with each step. He wanted to just turn around, run down and never come back, but he couldn't. And it wasn't about the one hundred bucks he left or the fact that Barry Laveran would be throwing it in his face till the end of his days; it was about Duchess. She'd know that he had chickened out and run away. He could not afford to make a fool out of himself in her eyes.

With his heart at his throat, he reached the top of the stairs. The other two guards allowed him to pass without a word and then, he stood before the Duchess; she was beautiful like a fallen, scarred angel, sitting in her couch, playing with her laptop. At sight of Osbourne, she smiled and turned to him, moving the computer slightly aside.

"Ah, Will. Please, take a seat," she suggested, pointing at another couch. The wolf took his place carefully. "You came with business, didn't you? Or did you just want to chit-chat?"

"N… No, Lady," refused, giving his best for his voice not to tremble. Duchess waited patiently for him to take a deep breath and express his needs. "You said before, that if I ever need anything, I should go to you. Well, I'd like…" He lowered his eyes. "I'd like to ask you out. For a date. You know, a restaurant, candles, violin… playing…" He eyed her slowly only to realize his mistake. "In the background and all…" he concluded awkwardly. For a moment, Lady Tompkins stared at him in her best attempt to maintain an emotionless expression. And then, she burst out with laughter.

* * *

Both Mark Moonstone and Barry Laveran watched the stairs leading to Duchess's balcony carefully, even though they have long since lost their friend from sight and loud music drowned out anything he or Lady Tompkins could say. When Will wasn't returning for a moment, both of them started growing more concerned.

"What do we do if they start kicking him out?" Mark asked and his drinking buddy stared at him blankly. "You know, kicking him down, rolling down the stairs, dragging out of the club and throwing his sorry, half-conscious tail in the mud?"

"I guess we pick him up," shrugged Barry. He didn't seem too confident.

"Before or after they're done?" Doubted Moonstone.

"And how do you think?"

"Right. Darn it, we're some shitty friends, aren't we?" Mark stated gloomily.

"The only ones he has," muttered back Laveran. "Oh, dear. I think he's coming back."

"On his own feet," Moonstone pointed out rather optimistically. "But I think you can keep your money," he stated and Barry nodded. Will Osbourne walked through the crowd with a poker face, but his shoulders were twitching as if he was trying to contain a cry. He stopped before them and didn't say a word.

"How did it go?" Asked Mark finally and Will put something on a table. It was a small, white business card with a number written over it.

"Do you know what's that? That's Lady Tompkins' number! And you know what's that?!" He turned around a card and they saw a name that was telling them nothing. "That's the restaurant she wanted me to take her to! And you know what's that?!" He reached for two hundred dollars Barry was holding. "That's my two hundred dollars!" He cackled, as his friends stared at him completely dumbfounded. "Like you said, Barry, the world belongs to the bold ones! See you, losers!" He laughed and, grabbing both the money and business card, vanished into the crowd. His drinking buddies stared in the crowd blankly for a moment.

"Well, at least he stopped whining," muttered Barry reaching for his beer and trying not to think of money he had just lost.

* * *

 _00.14 am. Saturday, August 31, 2020_

The time that Nick and Judy spent in the Diamond wasn't anything extraordinary. Just another nightclub with loud music, reasonable number of drinks, a bit of dancing and futile attempts at conversation despite all the noise. Nothing outstanding and yet, Nick felt the change. All his emotions bottled up from recent days, fear, insecurity, disappointment and fury, so much fury, all of them started flowing away, as if someone had uncorked that bottle finally.

The taxi was taking them back to their homes in silence that was, if not blissful, then at least filled with relief. Finally, Nick could have a breath of normality. Just an average, boring evening with no explosions, murders or kidnappings. An average evening with her, crossed his mind.

"What are you thinking about?" Judy watched him curiously.

"Nothing. You had a really good idea, you know?"

"I always have good ideas?" Judy tried to sound sassy, but as usually, she ended up cute at best. You had to give it to her, she was an unintentional perfectionist when it came to being cute. Nick giggled. He'd allow it.

"Yes, you do," he agreed and rabbit stared at him suspiciously. "What?"

"No witty remarks?"

"Nah, I'd hate to wipe off that smile of yours," he replied and smirked. For a moment, their eyes locked in each other and suddenly, the two of them chuckled.

"You get so sappy after a drink or two, you know?" Judy pointed out.

"It's not the drinks I need to be sappy," he replied eyeing her meaningfully and Judy elbowed him gently.

"Like I said. Drunk like a lord," she accused him unfairly. Judy, or anyone in general, had never seen Nick really drunk. Positively buzzed, yes, one in a while. Actually drunk? He never allowed it. Still, Judy liked to tease him like that.

"Drink as much as me and then we can talk," Nick challenged her.

"First, I'd need to put on as much fat," her riposte was immediate.

"Well, you're on a right… Ouch!" Judy elbowed him, before he finished and she might have done it a bit too strongly. He chuckled. "You only hit me because I'm..." Another elbow persuaded him to interrupt yet again. "You don't know how to lose, Carrots."

"I don't," she admitted shamelessly. "But you know you love me," she teased him with a smirk. This time, she wasn't cute, but one-hundred percent sassy. Now, Nick couldn't allow that.

"Do I?" He hesitated and then, looked out the window. "Oh, here it is! Stop, please, It's Carrots' stop!" He called the driver and enjoyed Judy's angry huff. As the car pulled over, she opened the door and hopped out.

"Good night," she muttered with defeat.

"Good night. Oh, Carrots!" He called her before she closed her door.

"Huh?"

"Of course, I do."


	23. Of carving your own path

_9.01 am. Saturday, August 31, 2020_

Having his private conference in front of the Reynolds family mansion turned out to be a decent move in the end: only fool wouldn't feel intimidated by the absurd monumentality of its front with all the giant columns and the huge and beautifully ornamented door. Max had all the journalists at the base of entrance step, while he stood by rostrum at their top, separated from them only by the wall of microphones before his face. He glanced at Kaylee who stood couple feet away helping herself with a crutch, just next to their trusted lawyer, an elderly deer.

"You can do it," Kaylee whispered and he nodded not too confidently. He missed Spice, his sister. Now that he needed her to deal with whole the mess their father stirred, she vanished into thin air. For last twenty hours she was practically unreachable and he and Wolford searched practically everywhere. It worried Max to the point when he almost reported her missing until she called him in the evening and, explaining nothing, hung up. But with her or not, Max still had his duties toward the city.

"Thank you for arriving so numerously, everyone," Max started at minute past nine and had all journalists' attention immediately. He realized he looked just as weary as he was, but it didn't worry him much. "Yesterday, I've answered all your questions as Officer Reynolds. Today, I will answer your questions as Maximilian Reynolds, son of Thomas Reynolds and heir to his fortune," he stated. "It has been not even twenty-four hours since Spencer Young's Manifesto has been made public, but I have already started analyzing it privately with help of my dear fiancée, Kaylee Crane," as Max mentioned her name, some of reporters glanced at the rabbit, but returned to him immediately. "Just the amount of evidence gathered there is enormous and accusations thrown at him by Young were certainly not unfounded. Ladies and gentlemen, I think it's time we finally faced truth: Thomas Reynolds and Frederick Thunders, in assistance of some major figures of Zootopia, caused a disgusting amount of pain, suffering and misery. But to state so is not enough. We have to face the consequences. We need to do justice to those that have been hurt and their families. That is why, as of today, I am starting a special Reynolds Reparation Fund. Whoever has been caused harm or lost their fortune due to my father's illegal or questionably legal actions, should come to me. We will sit down, study the evidence, estimate the harm and pay the compensation. Many of those cases will be hard and unobvious due to the long time that has passed since or lack of documentation, but no one that has been harmed will walk away with empty paws. The initial pool of the Reynolds Reparation Fund shall be the half of Thomas Reynolds private fortune that I have inherited. Its estimate value is one billion, two hundred and twenty million Zootopia dollars," Max said and that last sentence caused an explosion among the journalists. Suddenly, everyone had a thousand of questions to ask. Max picked some lady from the back of the crowd.

"Anna Hooves from Channel 2. Some of Reynolds manipulations occurred over thirty years ago. It's victims are often long gone and the cases themselves long overdue. Could their families count on reparation in such case?"

"Yes, families can apply for reparation and I will consider no case overdue, even if they would be legally," Max assured. "Um… Mr. Fenders from Sunny Weekly?" He assigned next mammal to give their question.

"Thank you. Mr. Reynolds, do you consider compensations for organizations too? There have been suggestions that Thomas Reynolds earned a lot of city's money by failing to finish the Millennium Towers, which seem to find confirmation in Manifesto."

"An excellent question," Max admitted. "Short answer would be yes. The long answer would be yes, but under two conditions. Firstly, organizations will be of the second priority. I want to do justice to the mammals first, then organizations or institutions of any sort. Secondly, sums that will be given to such entities will often be enormous ones, even compared to other compensations. As such, I will reserve a right to control the way such companies spend this money. We don't want CEOs buying private jets and yachts off of this money, do we?" He noticed with a smile and some mammals chuckled. Some of the law-savvy journalists continued to ask Reynolds about some details and Max allowed his lawyer to answer all of those complicated questions until, quite a moment later, came finally question that left the wolf rather dumbstruck.

"Mr. Reynolds, do you intend to spend whole the sum?" Asked a journalist named Evelyn Grey, known for her sharp, unforgiving tongue.

"Could you specify your question, Mrs. Grey?" Pleased Max, a bit weary.

"We are speaking here of over one billion dollars. Do you really intend to give all of it away, or are those just empty words, Mr. Reynolds? There surely aren't as many mammals harmed by your father to take whole the sum," she asked, quite annoying Max, but he replied without hint of anger.

"Mrs. Grey, we are speaking of at least two hundred mammals that lost their life's achievements or sometimes even lives, due to my father's actions over the course of thirty years. In most of those cases, considering inflation and interest, the sum will easily reach fifteen million dollars. That's already the fourth of the sum and we haven't even started analyzing the documents thoroughly or mentioned city of Zootopia itself."

"And what about mammals that won't want this money?" Someone asked.

"For a year, I will wait, allowing them to postpone their decision. If someone does not want the money after this time, I will transfer the respective sum to the charities of their choice, so that it can do good either way," explained Max. He continued answering other questions till somewhere around quarter past fifteen, when Kaylee finally intervened. Seeing how exhausted he was, she gently forced Max out of the speaker's stand and finished the conference informing everyone of Reynolds Reparation Fund webpage that would be set up in few days and offering an e-mail address where any further questions could be sent. When journalists still tried to sneak in a question or two, she just thanked them, killed the power to microphones and walked with Max and the lawyer back to the mansion. Max sighed with relief as the door closed behind them.

"How did it go?"

"Wonderfully, darling," Kaylee assured. "But you deserve some sleep. You look like death."

"I can imagine," Max chuckled it. "Do you regret it?"

"No. I married you, not your cash," Kaylee kissed him on the cheek. "And you?"

"A bit. I mean, one billion dollars. Ten tons of one-hundred-dollar bills." Max took a deep breath. "But I don't need this money. I don't want this blood money. We have ourselves. Everything will be right, huh?" He smiled and she kissed him again.

"Of course, it will."

* * *

 _10.16 am. Saturday, August 31, 2020_

The moment Kaylee Crane finished the conference in front of Reynolds residence, Anastasia "Spice" Reynolds, the newest CEO of Reynolds Industries, switched off the television and turned to the board of directors with smirk from an ear to ear.

"Like I said, all we have to do, is to keep quiet long enough and Max will take the bullet for himself," she reminded them, glancing at her boyfriend, Jason Wolford, who was leaning against a wall in the opposite corner and staring at her coldly. He had every right to be angry; she had been avoiding him since Spencer Young's message went viral so that he wouldn't screw things up for her.

"So Maximilian takes the burden on himself. Do you think he'll keep it up when he finds we want nothing to do with this?" Asked one of the directors doubtfully.

"Of course, he will. Neither would he forgive himself, or would his fiancée otherwise," assured Spice confidently. "Max cares about the company, but doesn't want to be part of it. Now that we got rid of Mr. Thunders, proving our ties to Thomas Reynolds' crimes will be… improbable. Unless anyone present has something to announce," Anastasia watched the board of directors, but none of them said a thing.

"Perfect. We will join the fund if the time is right and Max starts running out of money. Otherwise, we wait," she finished.

"And what about you, daughter of Thomas Reynolds? Shouldn't you join the fund personally like your brother?" Asked another director.

"I respect and approve my brother's initiative, but I do not feel responsible for my father's actions from times when I wasn't even born," Anastasia stated firmly. "And I will not be emotionally blackmailed into anything." The board of directors approved her words and Spice smiled with satisfaction.

"I will discuss the details of PR with Mr. Richards. Meet me in my office…" she checked the time. "In half an hour. If no one else has any other subjects to touch, I'd consider the meeting over," she announced. The directors agreed and started leaving the conference room, passing by Jason Wolford in silence. The wolf was watching his girlfriend, who just turned around and walked to the window. As she looked down at Zootopia, she heard the door closing and his voice from behind.

"You should have been there with Max," he blamed her.

"No. I know for a fact that I should have not," she replied coldly.

"He's been looking for you whole day."

"He didn't need me. He'd make this same choice anyway," snorted Anastasia angrily. "Stupid, naïve Max, liability as usual. He thinks a billion dollars can change the city."

"It's not about the money."

"Oh, I believe otherwise," Spice stated firmly. "And if Max wants to treat his wealth like a quarter thrown in beggar's cup, then I will have nothing to do with his actions."

"It's about family, Spice. About unity in hardship, just like when your father died…" Wolford reminded her.

"Nonsense," she interrupted him harshly. "Father did not die, so that we can waste his fortune and power like Max wants to." She turned to the window and looked down at the city of Zootopia. "Father could have everything, but he had no guts. He could have dealt with Duchess and the likes of her."

"But you do have guts," Wolford figured. Part of him always knew there was more to her than just a cheerful vlogger. And now, this part was ringing all the alarm bells in her head.

"I do."

"So what are you gonna do, become a new mayor?" Wolford asked. Ketchikan's term of office was ending soon anyway, so it seemed plausible, but Spice just shook her head with a chuckle.

"Don't you already know by now that those in spotlight rarely are but pawns?" She smiled ominously. "No, we will _elect_ the new mayor."

"We?" Wolford noticed carefully and she giggled in a way that always made his heart skip a beat.

"Of course, we. Did you think that I would leave you behind?" She asked amused, walking over to her boyfriend slowly. Spice nuzzled his nose with hers. "I love you. And I need you more now than I've needed you ever before," she hugged him firmly and slowly and he hugged her back. But when she tried to kiss him, Wolford asked her the question that had been running through his mind for whole this time.

"And when I become a liability too? Will you stand me up like you did with Max?" He wanted to know. Anastasia watched him in silence and giggled.

"I'd never let you go, stupid," she teased him amusingly, but he could hardly laugh. He dropped her and broke out of her grasp.

"Well then, I guess I'll have to, then," he stepped back. "Spice, I'm breaking up with you," he decided, staring her right in the eyes. Anastasia's smile vanished in an instant as she snarled, showing her teeth.

"What?! Why would you?!" She yelled at him.

"Because you only care about yourself. It's always been like that. I want to do this, I want to do that, I don't care about your plans… Now I see it. Truly, daddy's girl," Wolford explained and Spice snarled angrily.

"Daddy's girl?! You don't know a damn thing about me! You have no idea how hard I've been working to be standing where I stand, how long I have…"

"And you don't care about anything beyond that. You only think about what you have and what you want. You've had me for a while and I admit, it was fun. But I'm sick of you not giving a damn about anyone else! You don't even bother to discuss things with me, you just take action and present me with the fait accompli! And it's always like this! You don't even pretend to listen!"

"So you think I should have given all of my father's fortune back?!" She yelled back.

"No, I think you should try and listen to what others have to say. Or at least pretend to be listening. Until you learn it, I think we are done. Bye, Spice," he muttered, turned around and walked to the door.

"You will regret it," threatened him Spice.

"Maybe I will, but not less than if I stayed," he replied and slammed the door. Anastasia watched it in silence for a moment and then, with a deep sigh, she walked back to the window and stared at the town below.

"I can do this alone. I will climb to the top with no one by my side, if I need to," slowly, she clenched her fists.

* * *

 _5.43 pm. Wednesday, September 3, 2020_

Mrs. Wilde was washing the dishes when she heard the doorbell. Rather intrigued, as she wasn't expecting any guests, she walked over to the door and opened it to see no one else than Max Reynolds and Kaylee Crane.

"Kaylee, my girl!" The old vixen exclaimed joyfully, as she hugged the bunny, while Max held her crutch. To Kaylee, Mrs. Wilde was a mother she always want to have. And a mother she always wanted to be, for the matter of speaking.

"It's good to see you, Mrs. Wilde," the bunny hugged her tenderly and released her carefully with Max handing her crutch back.

"Good evening," Max smiled.

"Good evening, Max. Please, come inside. I'll make some tea," she offered and let them in. The couple sat on the couch in the living room, while Mrs. Wilde disappeared for a moment in the kitchen and returned with a tray with three teas and some cookies. "It is so good to see the both of you safe and sound. I've been so worried about you since you came to me, Max," the old vixen confessed, as they tasted their drinks.

"I… thank you for what you did for me the night when they…" Max glanced at Kaylee and shivered. The memories still were vivid. "When Young kidnapped Kaylee. I really had no idea who to go to," confessed the wolf.

"My door is always opened to the two of you," promised the vixen. "Even at the most insane and bizarre of all times."

"And we appreciate it," Kaylee assured. "Do you know when Nick and Judy are coming back?" She asked, but the old vixen shook her head.

"I don't think even Nick does know it for sure. But he's in good paws," assured Mrs. Wilde, sipping some of her tea. "And you? What are you up to these days?"

"Curing wounds and organizing the Reparation Fund. We want to have the thing working with only our supervision, we're leaving most of the paper work to my family's trusted detective agency and accounting office," explained Max.

"But we're watching their paws carefully," added Kaylee.

"And we've also come here… due to the Fund," Max stated and the old vixen stared at him in astonishment. She should have expected it obviously, but still…

"Why so?" She only asked, as she reached for her tea.

"Because… this is where this all started, Mrs. Wilde. The Happytown recession, the blackmails, bankruptcies, Wolf Pack's reigns and their crimes… This all started with death of Mr. Wilde. If there's any point where we should start, then it's here." Max argued, deadly serious about it. The old vixen let her sight down, abashed suddenly.

"How much money do we… how much do we speak about?" She asked quietly.

"Considering Suit-o-pia's income tax reports, under moderate assumptions of it keeping continually raising the level of sells you achieved at the end of the first six months for first few years until reaching a stable, reasonable level, including inflation… almost four million Zootopia dollars. If we leave alone the moral loss compensation, that is," the wolf explained and watched the old vixen. Just like her son, she remained inscrutable, but he could recognize the battle inside her; it had been thirty years without her husband. She had suffered a lot in that time, struggled both financially and mentally. What Max had suffered for merely one night, she had endured for thirty years. And yet…

"No, I can't take this money," Mrs. Wilde shook her head firmly. "I appreciate it, Max, I really do. I just… I can't. I can't be making money off my husband's death," she decided, her voice trembling and eyes watery. Both Max and Kaylee saw her in such a state for the first time and suddenly, they felt awfully bad about it. The three of them lasted in silence, unsure what to say.

"There's… there's an orphanage near my old house, at the Acacia Street," Kaylee started shyly. "It's been in ruin for years and city never had money to renovate the building. I don't know if it'd be enough…" She hesitated, but then, Mrs. Wilde smiled and nodded.

"It's the one where that poor boy, Spencer, was raised," the old vixen pointed out. "Yes, I think… I think it'd be the fine choice, to start fixing the harm with both the last and the first one that were hurt," she agreed and then, she watched Max carefully; he seemed tense.

"Yeah, I… I guess you're right," the wolf agreed with her. He liked the idea itself, but there was something else that bothered him.

"They still haven't found him, have they?" Realized Mrs. Wilde and her guests shook their heads.

"Neither Young or his body. It must have been carried even to the ocean by now, but…" Max didn't finish, but he didn't have to; he wouldn't believe that Spencer Young was dead until they found his body. Mrs. Wilde watched him with concern.

"Be careful, boy," she warned him suddenly. "It's easy to let the hate consume you."

"I know, but if all those events taught me anything, then it's that…" Max glanced at Kaylee shortly. "That sometimes, you just have to let go. Spencer did what he meant to do. He paid his price or not. I won't change it and I have my own life to live in meanwhile," he explained.

"Speaking of which… we have something for you, Mrs. Wilde," Kaylee grabbed from her small purse an envelope and handed it to the vixen. "We've figured we'd deliver at least some of them personally and…" She hesitated as Mrs. Wilde unwrapped the card and began to read. It was a wedding invitation.

"How wonderful!" The old vixen said joyfully. "So May it is, it seems? I've never thought that you'd invite me too," she confessed, actually surprised. Kaylee seemed almost offended.

"Mrs. Wilde, we would never miss out on you at the most important day of our lives," Max promised and with that, the conversation proceeded smoothly to more positive news. For the rest of their visit, they did not return to the subject of murder or Spencer Young even once. With the recent tragedies and all old ones that surfaced suddenly, it was good to have something to be happy about.

* * *

 _4.28 pm. Thursday, September 4, 2020_

The doorbell ringing didn't really surprise Kaylee or Max; they had had plenty of guests in past few days. The wolf, currently struggling with the sophisticated act of baking a cake without his fiancée's support, dropped the job and walked to the door.

"I've got this!" He assured and opened the front door. The guest was a rabbit of black and white fur, somewhere around twenty-five years old. She was dressed in an elegant, if not too expensive jacket, and a small purse hanging from her shoulder. Her familiar, azure eyes were watching Max nervously and then she let down them shyly.

"Mr. Maximilian Reynolds?" She asked.

"Yes, can I help you?" Wondered the wolf.

"Yes…" the bunny sighed deeply. "Is Kaylee home? Could I see her?" She asked shyly and the realization sparked in Max's head.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch your name," Max eyed her carefully.

"Um… Ashley. Ashley… Crane," she introduced herself shamefully, nearly spitting the surname. It was funny, how the reject of Kaylee was proud of her surname and her sister who had normal childhood, could barely bring herself to say it out loud. "Could you call her?"

"Yes, I can," the wolf assured. "Kaylee, you've got a visitor!" He shouted.

"Who's that?!" The bunny was walking downstairs.

"See for yourself!" Max stepped aside, so his fiancée would have a clear view. Kaylee came down and stopped rapidly, seeing the guest. She snorted angrily and walked over to her furiously.

"Of course! Who else would play the devil's lawyer, if not you, huh?!" She yelled angrily. "I thought I made it clear that I don't want any of you meddling with my life!" Kaylee grabbed the door and tried to slam it when her sister blocked it with her foot.

"She didn't send me. I came her on my own. And it's not about money," Ashley claimed. Her sister watched her carefully, unsure if to believe her.

"What do you want?"

"Can I come in?" Pleased the guest.

"I guess," Kaylee agreed reluctantly, dropping the door angrily. "Come on," she stepped aside and invited her in. Ashley wiped her feet and walked in carefully. Kaylee guided her to the living room.

"Max, could you make us some tea?" Pleased Kaylee.

"I'm on it," the wolf assured and went to the kitchen. Two rabbits sat down on a couch in the living room. Ashley was watching everything curiously, but didn't comment with a word. Her sister watched her carefully. If Kaylee looked like their mother, then Ashley was the spitting image of their father; these same eyes, similar black and white fur and just like him she was unusually slim, only Ashley was enthusiastic and vigorous, not a laid-back, uncaring lazy-ass like their sorry excuse of a parent. She was the one Kaylee hated the least from their family, which still didn't mean that she liked her.

"What did you want to talk about?" Kaylee asked impatiently.

"I… I guess I should start with the news that I moved out from mother's house couple months ago and I did so with some fireworks. I was tired of her bullshit. She's always been so… manipulative toward you… and not only," she started.

"You always were slow to learn," the host pointed out cynically.

"I don't keep in touch with them anymore," Ashley seemed not to hear it. "No one wants to speak to me after the scene I caused back in the house."

"Did you?" Kaylee watched her carefully.

"Yup. I don't mean to brag, but it was just as loud when you left," she said, managing to cause a smile at sister's face. "But she deserved it. She did us wrong and… we did you wrong too," Ashley admitted shamefully.

"No way," Kaylee didn't even have to try hard to sound cynical.

"I'm sorry. I am sorry for how I treated you back in the past. I'm sorry that I never stood up for you, but watched silently Chase and others bullying you. I was scared that I'd end up like you and no one would like me either. I know it does not excuse me, but... but I'm sorry and I hope we could try rebuilding our relations. Only if you want, that is," added Ashley. Kaylee hesitated. The recent meeting with her mother only reinforced fears of her family, but Ashley felt different, honest. Kaylee never really hated her, only in sake of collective responsibility. But if she got past that…

"You've always tried to be nice when others didn't look," Kaylee admitted and then, she wrapped her paw around her. "Come here, my cowardly, kink-shaming sister," she giggled.

"I'm right here, my quirky, cynical sister," Ashley chuckled. "So… a new start?"

"Let's try it," Kaylee agreed and at this same moment, Max walked in with teas and cookies.

"The cake is still baking, but have some…" He paused, realizing the sudden change. "Did I miss something?"

"Oh, just a family reunion with my probably only normal sister," Kaylee giggled, while Max sat by her. Ashley watched the wolf carefully.

"Wait, is he a handsome wolf with decent job that also bakes? Is there some secret webstore with dream fiancés you've never told me about?" Ashley joked.

"Sorry, darling, limited edition. They only made one and sold him to me for a single kiss," Kaylee explained half-jokingly and kissed her fiancé on cheek.

"For a single kiss? Hardly. You had him sold for your devotion, courage and heart that never gave up," Max disagreed, nuzzling her on cheek. Ashley watched the exchange with cute smile.

"Oh, you two go so well together! It's only fair, I suppose. You had the worst family before, so now you'll have some best one," she pointed out.

"I guess," Kaylee agreed. "But after my last visit, they won't be bothering me anymore."

"About that…" Ashley hesitated. "I think you two might have some problems with them."

"How's that?" Max asked.

"Before I came to you, I wanted to speak with mother, talk some sense in her. You almost died there… again… and again, it seemed like no one was even going to see you in the hospital. We talked she told me about how you came to her on Monday, terrorized and hit her…" Ashley saw the fury in Kaylee's eyes that spoke more than any her words would. "And that you're going to regret it. Now that she knows of Reynolds Fund, she'll try to scrutinize it…"

"Or swindle something for herself," Kaylee finished for her. "That cheating, backstabbing… I came to her hoping for reunion and she tried to swindle money from Max. When I yelled at her, she hit me in face with a family picture frame. And now she dares to…" She clenched her fists angrily.

"Does she have any basis for any sort of reparation?" Max doubted.

"Sort of. She has the Cranes. The store, I mean," Kaylee confirmed. "It's a miracle it still hasn't shut down."

"How can she blame it on my father?" Asked Max with worries.

"Actually, I don't think she can at all. Parents always had troubles managing the store; no one had to bother to make them close it. But they'll probably cause a scene about it, claim that you don't want to give the money to your poor mother," Ashley warned her sister. "You know how she is."

"Yes, I do. Crap, I never even thought of it," she sighed deeply. "Thanks for the warning. We'll probably have our guys consider the case carefully, find no reason for any reparation and then, deal with any mess she causes publicly," figured Kaylee.

"Mhm, we'll do it this way," agreed Max. "But we'll delay telling your mother that to the time when Reparation Fund won't be a hot topic anymore," he added with a smirk. "She won't be the first swindler and neither the last. I know how to handle these mammals."

"Not only handsome, but also smart. That's cheating, Kaylee," Ashley joked and her sister giggled joyfully, wrapping her paw around her fiancé.

"Maybe it is. Works fine for me," she replied joyfully. She really appreciated Ashley's coming. She could have come from some shitty family, but Max and her friends from ZPD kept her from thinking about it and now, she even had her sister back. Slowly, the things were turning out better.

* * *

 _4.16 pm. Friday, September 5, 2020_

The remainder of Reynolds' murder case along with investigation of past Reynolds and Thunders' activities were taken over by ZPD Precinct 1. police officers mostly due to PR reasons, which suddenly became an urging priority. To Max Reynolds and Kaylee Crane, it was very convenient. Even if neither of them formally took part in either of them, unofficially, they had all the knowledge they needed nowadays. And when something important came up, they knew almost immediately, just like now when Fangmeyer called them to confirm authenticity of the painting Moonlight, they had found. He and Kaylee arrived at the station which, a week after the disastrous press conference, came back to normal. Partially, at least: Wilde and Hopps' box had been empty for a while now.

Wolford was waiting for them just by Clawhauser's reception deck. He shook their paws with a weak smile and they walked to the evidence room.

"I'm sorry about the break-up," said Max, but he just shrugged it off.

"I'm sorry about your sister," he replied instead. "About the painting, it's kind of… peculiar. Two guys brought it right after you announced the reward. They claimed they didn't know what to do about it, so they kept it in their house until they saw the news, but they don't sound too… convincing. They have some ties with Duchess and her role in whole this thing was…"

"Let's see the painting first, OK?" Suggested Max. Wolford didn't argue much, but continued to guide them to the evidence room. The painting itself was locked in a small, separate room and covered with couple layers of plastic foil. Wolford unwrapped the painting carefully and shown it to Max and Kaylee.

"Is it the one?" He asked. Max and Kaylee knew it was merely politeness of his; the actual confirmation was going to be performed by the experts. Still, they appreciated the gesture. Max leaned over the painting and watched it carefully. The moonlight over Tundratown painted by his mother, just like he remembered it from his young years. In one corner, her signature, "Haddock", in other three letters written with pup's paw: MTR, standing for Maximilian Theodore Reynolds. Max felt chills down his spine. Due to Spencer Young's revenge, there only existed three of his mother's painting; Number 8 that Max didn't really like and which remained in National Museum, Number 3 defiled with blood writing on it and Moonlight, the most beautiful of all that Ilya Reynolds had ever painted and which Spencer Young decided to eventually spare.

"This is the one," he said and felt Kaylee's concerned sight. He smiled weakly. "This certainly is the one," he repeated and stepped back allowing Wolford to cover the painting again.

"It'll stay here until the end of investigation. We'll tell you when you'll be able to get it back. Oh, and before you go, Chief wanted to see you," Wolford told him. Max nodded with appreciation.

"We'll go there, I guess. Thanks, Jason, see you around."

"Yeah, bye," Wolford shook his paw. They left the evidence room and went separate ways. Kaylee eyed her fiancé carefully.

"So, what will you do about the painting?" She asked. "According to will, it is yours."

"I can't hang it on a wall, given the size. I guess I'll give it up to National Museum, so that everyone else can see it too. Along with Number 3, defiled or not," he decided.

"Yes, it's a good choice," she agreed and they stopped before the door to Chief's office. "Chief will probably prefer to talk with you alone," she pointed out.

"True," Max knocked on the door and, hearing an invitation, walked in. Chief Bogo was sitting in his chair, working hardly on something with several piles of documents towering on the sides of his desk. He invited Max to sit down with a gesture and wolf took his seat.

"You wanted to see me, Chief," Max said.

"I did. How are the things with the Fund going?" Chief asked.

"Lots of work, but I'm getting hold of it. After weekend, I'll be able to leave it to the Marvin and Wheeler Detective Agency to the point it won't mess with my job," promised Max. "Kaylee's ready to come back too."

"Good. So I'm expecting the two of you back on Monday," the water buffalo seemed to smile for a second. "You'll have lots of new duties when you come back… Detective," he told him and Max shook his head with disbelief.

"Excuse me, sir? Did you say…"

"You're being promoted, Reynolds, for your life-saving performance during investigation of Thomas Reynolds' murder and your outstanding attitude afterwards. You saved at least three lives in there and made arrestment of Scarlet Calveit and clearing Wilde's name possible." Chief argued. "You should feel honored, it's probably the quickest promotion I ever gave out."

"I… I should, I guess," Max muttered lowering his head.

"What's wrong, Reynolds?" Bogo asked, even if he already knew.

"With all due respect, sir, I did not deserve it. You should promote Nicky instead," Max explained. "I work hard and give it all, but… but I've been in service for just two years, including my six-month convalescence after the Watering Hole Port. I solved no more than a couple cases and my father's murder wasn't even a one. Giving me a promotion for it would be wrong toward other, more experienced officers like Fangmeyer, Wolford or…" Max's voice hung for a moment, as he finally realized what it all was about. "You need a hero, don't you? Since you lost Nicky, you need someone to prove that we aren't so bad. Detective Reynolds does his job, huh?" He confronted Chief. Bogo just sighed deeply and nodded.

"You're an outstanding figure, Reynolds. You will go far, if given time. But we need you right now, in the hard time we're about to face," he argued, surely remembering how he lost Hopps when he presented her with similar request during the Nighthowler crisis. "The promotion is a reward, but it is just as much of a burden. You will be in the spotlight. Everyone will expect from you more and forgive you far less."

"And there's no one else that you could really ask," finished Max for him bitterly. He considered the idea for quite a moment. "If this serves ZPD and the city, I will do it, sir."

"I expected no less. I will see you on the Monday and we'll proceed with all the formalities then."

"Understood, sir."

"That will be everything for today," Chief said.

"Of course. Until Monday, sir," Max lifted himself from the chair and walked to the door. "Oh, um… Chief?" He called and caught water buffalo's attention. "Thank you for believing in me."

"Don't mention it, Reynolds," replied Bogo and Max left his office with a slight smile. Kaylee was waiting impatiently outside. As the doors closed, she jumped to him and hugged him.

"Congratulations!" She squeaked joyfully. "Detective Reynolds!"

"I don't know if it's good or bad, really," Max didn't seem half as enthusiastic.

"And I think it's deserved, even if rushed," she said as if she could read his mind or rather, had eavesdropped whole the conversation. Max smiled weakly.

"Detective Max Reynolds. Sounds just fine," he admitted and kissed Kaylee on the lips. She giggled happily and then, kissed him back.

* * *

 _9.25 pm. Friday, September 5, 2020_

Kaylee Crane sighed with relief as she finished assembling a wooden kitchen chair; the last piece of furniture that they had waiting for them. Max had just finished brewing tea and with a move of his head, he invited her to their living room. They sat comfortably in their couch, Kaylee leaning against Max, both sipping their teas.

"So… I guess we've moved in," the bunny started.

"Yup. Home, sweet home," Max agreed. "It's been a long journey here, hasn't it?"

"Yeah… Awfully long year," said Kaylee and then, she chuckled. "Would you imagine? On our first meeting fourteen months ago, I spilled coffee right in your face. And I kept calling you a snow-white until that opera night."

"And I laughed at your surname and then I mocked you how you've never been to opera. And on our way there, I was speeding through the town like an idiot just to impress you with an opposite effect," Max laughed. "I was a jerk, wasn't I?"

"An arrogant, egocentric jerk," admitted Kaylee amusingly. "Just the match for a quirky nerd with a canine kink."

"I wonder… How did you get it, by the way? You know, the canine… fancy?" He asked. For some reason, Max really hated the word 'kink', as if considering it offensive, which never ceased to amuse her. Kaylee shrugged, unable to answer precisely.

"It's silly, but… but I think I can blame my family. I hate them. I hate my parents, my brothers and sisters and their spouses to the point I can't…" Kaylee laughed awkwardly and blushed. "I think I don't really can think of any rabbit romantically."

"Really?"

"It's stupid, I know!" She confirmed. "When you walk a street and see some sexy wolf, you check her out, don't you? You know, a quick glance and back to…"

"Kaylee…" Now Max was feeling awkward too and it was even more amusing.

"Come on, everyone does it. I do," she tried to be deadly serious about it, but rather failed there. "But I never look at rabbits. Wolves… coyotes… foxes… You…" She played with his tail and giggled. "…but not ever rabbits."

"Wow. I always thought that you simply… preferred canines," Max confessed.

"Don't you worry, no rabbit ever will steal my heart," Kaylee promised.

"And wolf?" He teased her.

"There's only one in here," she placed her paw on heart and kissed him on cheek. "My hero. Charging in for the rescue, when Greymane wanted to shred me to pieces…" She glanced at her old scars frighteningly and hugged Max a bit stronger. He might have been the one that had done it to her, but she was long past fearing him. Now, when her nightmares struck her again due to Greymane, he was the one she found comfort in. With him by her side, she felt safe. Max watched her bliss as she was cuddling in his arm, but something seemed to continue bothering her.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I… I just thought of Spencer," she confessed.

"What was it between you two?" Max wondered.

"We…" Kaylee took a deep breath, but continued. Max certainly deserved to know. "He was my classmate in middle and high school. He was one of the few that liked me. Or at least didn't laugh at me," she explained. "The only one that remained like this throughout both schools, actually. I liked him, but never had guts to go and talk to him. And then, one day, he protected me from bullies. Well… they beat crap out of him, but I guess it still counts," Kaylee managed to smile.

"And you talked to him?" Max guessed, but she shook her head.

"I ran away. I was a stupid, cowardly bunny at the time," she confessed shamefully. "And then, there was this party… Somehow, I got invited. I didn't really like anyone there, until I saw Spencer. We drank a bit, talked, drank more… at some point I… I kissed him," she admitted shamefully. "I thought no one saw it, but they did and they started mocking me, saying that I'm a weirdo. Spencer… He wanted to defend me, but he figured things would quiet down if we just… never talked again."

"He left you," Max summed up.

"I left him too. Both of us were too ashamed, too shy to fight for one another. And then… before I noticed, we were already strangers to each other," Kaylee finished and both of them stared at the dark screen of their TV.

"Do you regret it?" Max asked.

"Back then, I learnt not to care about what the others say. They will always think I'm different and the more I try to hide it, the better they'll see. Because I failed then… I had courage to fight for you when we met. And that, I do not regret," she kissed him on the cheek.

"If not for you, I'd have had no courage myself," Max kissed her back and hugged her strongly. It was so good to have her back, sit with her in their small house at the Trip Street, staring at the switched-off TV and pretending to be drinking their teas. He couldn't imagine greater happiness than to feel her fur against her paws, smell her weak perfume and listen to her slow, regular breath and quick heartbeat.

"Till death do us part?" Kaylee asked, rising her tea cup and he found his.

"And may it not come anytime soon," he agreed as they cups clanked and they drank some of their warm drinks. If this wasn't happiness, then Max didn't know what it was.


	24. Of peoples and cities

_Past noon, Saturday, August 31, 2020_

Nick had been studying the train timetable for quite a while, when someone jumped at his back and hugged him from behind. The fox turned his head and smirked; it was no one else than Judy Hopps. She giggled and slid back on the ground.

"There you are," he smiled, eyeing her from head to toes. She was dressed in a casual pink shirt and blue jeans and oppositely to Nick, she carried only a small backpack; the bunny still had plenty of her stuff left in her home in Bunny Burroughs.

"You haven't been waiting long, have you? The traffic is awful today," she apologized.

"Couple minutes, really. Our train should be here in a moment, so we'd better go," he suggested, while reaching for his significantly bigger bag. They walked toward the platform not too hurriedly.

"Mhm," agreed Judy. "Have you watched the news? Max had a conference this morning."

"Yup. Crazy, reckless Max. I called him with congratulations on his decision," Nick confirmed with actual admiration. "Sometimes he's almost as naïve as you, Carrots."

"I'll take it as a compliment," she watched him carefully, as they rode down the elevator. The fox was smirking.

"Oh, it was a compliment," he assured, as he jumped of last two stairs. "I thought we've established that long time ago."

"That's our wagon," noticed Judy not dwelling on the subject any longer and the two of them boarded their train. They found their seats, put the bags on the shelf above their heads and seated themselves comfortably in their chairs. Judy reached for her earphones and offered one to Nick.

"Just play something bearable," he teased her. Judy rolled her eyes, searched through her songs and found something mutually acceptable. To say their music tastes differed would be an understatement.

"You don't have plans for tomorrow, do you?" Judy asked.

"I don't know, you tell me."

"OK, you do now. There are Carrot Days this weekend. We'll just make it for the last day," she offered.

"I carrot believe my luck!" He chuckled and she elbowed him gently.

"If you don't want to go…"

"I hay-ve never said that," Nick assured firmly and Judy rolled her eyes. Suddenly the train pulled rapidly and it started moving. Both of them looked out the window and watched the mammals at the platform, some of them waving at their friends, some greetings the ones that just left, the others just making their ways to their homes. Judy glanced at Nick; she knew he had a thousand of thoughts racing through his mind, but she also knew he wouldn't tell her if he didn't want to.

"It's been almost a year now," the fox said just as they left the station. "Since we waved Charlie Rockfield and Miss Chasseur goodbye as this very train took them to the Lake City."

"Yeah, it really was here," Judy agreed. She had almost missed it, even if she had got a second letter from Charlie just yesterday. She even had it in her bag now, wanting to read it together with Nick when they'd have an opportunity. "It was a good choice, to let them go, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was a good thing," Nick agreed and Judy felt some stinging in her heart, as she stared at back of his head, watching Zootopia dreamily. "Sometimes, it's the best thing you can do. To let go," he muttered to himself.

"But not always," Judy whispered under her breath so silently that he had no chance to hear.

* * *

 _About 7 pm. Saturday, August 31, 2020_

The train arrived at Bunny Burroughs right on schedule. Nick and Judy grabbed their luggage and left the train with Hopps family waiting for them right at the platform. Judy ran straight to her parents and hugged them.

"Mom! Dad!" She exclaimed joyfully. "It's so good to see you!"

"We missed you too, bun," assured Bonnie Hopps, as she greeted her daughter.

"It must have been a tiring journey for the two of you," worried Stu Hopps and raised his sight to Nick Wilde, standing in the back with his bag in paw. The fox just shrugged.

"A bit. How have you been, Stu, Bonnie?" He smiled charmingly.

"Things go at their own pace around here," Stu Hopps assured. "C'mon, let's go home. The dinner is already waiting," he suggested.

"With pleasure," assured the fox. With all the things he had to do before leaving Zootopia, he failed to have a decent lunch. In result, his stomach's rumbling had been bothering Judy for whole five hours of ride and little the snacks she had to offer him did not help.

All four of them got to the Hopps' car, parents in the front and Judy and Nick in the back. Three bunnies quickly lost themselves in their discussion; Judy was especially interested in some of her family members that she failed to catch up on recently, Bonnie worried about Judy and how rarely she had been calling recently and Stu couldn't help, but to complain about this year's awful crops. Nick didn't mind being sort of left out from the conversation. If he really needed to be in center of everyone's attention, he just had to wait till they arrive at place.

According to Stu Hopps' warnings, the Hopps family house would be rather empty at this time of the year. With September just starting, many young Hopps have already left to either dormitories of universes and schools or back to work from their well-deserved vacation back at home. While the corridors weren't exactly as crowded as usual and Judy missed some familiar faces that she was hoping to meet, to Nick, it didn't seem to be a problem at all: a flock of several dozen kits swarmed around him in no time, jumping to the fox and hanging from both his arms, shoulders and tail. Luckily, Nick remembered from painful experience of the first visit to not wear a tie.

"Give Nick some space, kids!" Scolded them Stu and they dropped him, but continued to follow Nick around.

"Will you play with us?!" Asked one.

"Yeah, before the dinner!" Suggested the other.

"Or after!"

"Why aren't you dressed like a cop?!" A bunny playing with his tail wondered.

"Are you here for long?!"

"Will you go with us for the Carrot Days?!"

"Can we go to play now?!" The avalanche of questions kept on and Nick had no other choice but to address at least some of them.

"We will play tomorrow…" Nick started.

"Yay!" They shouted joyously.

"But only after the Carrot Days…" He continued.

"Uh…" They moaned disappointed.

"We'll do whatever you like to do…"

"Yay!"

"For as long as your father allows us," he added.

"Which will be no longer than 9 pm," warned Stu immediately.

"Uh…"

"But don't you worry, I'll be staying here for a while," Wilde promised.

"Yay!" Kits shouted joyously yet again.

"And now, Timmy, Della, Max, Ellie, Victor, Frank…" Nick went on like this for a moment, naming every single one of them. "…Betty and Gary, I will go for a dinner, because I am starving. See you tomorrow!"

"Goodbye, Mr. Wilde!" The kits recited, but kept following him.

"Now, shoo! Shoo!" Stu Hopps chased them away half-jokingly and they scattered in all directions giggling rapidly. Judy watched Nick carefully.

"You really are good with children. You named properly every single one of them," she pointed out, pride mixing with amusement. He just shrugged.

"Hey, I know everyone," he replied.

"Just don't play hide and seek with them. Trust me. Don't," she warned him and Nick promised to keep it in mind. She always told him that and this far, he always listened. He didn't want to know what'd happen if he didn't.

They came in to the dining room or hall, rather. To Judy, this place didn't use to be anyhow unusual since she'd spent here every evening of twenty years of her life, but since Nick's first visit here when he pointed out that it looked like Hogwart's Great Hall, she could never look at it in this same way again. Of course, it wasn't half as tall or ornamented, but it was a massive hall with four rows of benches with generally assigned places for everyone. This evening, it was only half full, but it really was crowded in here only at special times. Judy guided Nick to where she usually sat and introduced Nick to couple of her siblings or cousins he hadn't got to meet on earlier visits. He really was surprised that there still were any.

The dinner, as usually in Hopps household, was hardly quiet. Barely had Nick and Judy grabbed their plates, on one side of the hall started a heated discussion, on the other side erupted joyful laughter and general commotion continued everywhere. The two of them spent in the hall almost an hour eating, talking, joking and listening and they were some of the first ones to actually leave. By the door, Kyle, one of Judy's younger brothers, caught up with the two of them.

"Hey, dad told me to take care of the bed for Nick," he explained. "We wanted to give him a room near you, but every single one in your wing is still occupied and we didn't want him to get lost every morning trying to find you, so we exchanged your bed for a king-sized one, just for the two of you." he explained with a smirk and couple girls passing by giggled at that, but no one commented it loudly. "I hope you don't mind?"

"It's alright," Judy assured and Nick shrugged.

"It might be a little short for a fox, but you'll figure it out. OK, you know the way. See you around!" Kyle waved them and disappeared from their sight at the nearest crossing. Judy and Nick came to her room and dropped their luggage before the said-king sized bed, which was occupying half of the room. Someone must have been very determined to carry it in here instead of two single beds and Judy already had couple ideas who it could have been.

"We can get a room screen, if you need it," suggested Nick with a smirk and Judy stared at him blankly. "You know, put it across the bed so no one talks…" She elbowed him before he finished.

"I don't care. And they'll talk anyway," she told him. "Surprisingly, they at least gave us separate duvets," she noticed.

"Surprising indeed," Nick admitted, almost not sarcastically. "And pillows too. Oh, my," he yawned deeply. "I say we go to the shower and then, straight to our beds. Or bed."

"Sounds good," Judy agreed. The two of them found their toilet bags, towels and sleeping clothes and went to the nearest showers.

Surprisingly or not, Judy was done and back in the room first. Since for the sake of king sized bed, Judy had to part with both her chairs and a small desk, she laid down in bed and watched the walls. They were mostly covered in old photos of her and her family from trips, holidays, school plays and other events. Nick used to have a lot of fun about cute, little Judy, until she mentioned it to Mrs. Wilde and she pulled out Wilde family album with equally adorable baby Nick. Judy giggled as she recalled some of those photos and returned to watching her collection. One of those pictures was very special to her; it presented her and Nick during at his graduation. Both of them were dressed in decorative police uniforms, holding paws at each other's shoulders and smiling to the camera. Judy was still watching it when she saw Nick coming back in.

"It took you a while," Judy pointed out.

"Oh, I met couple rabbits on my way back."

"You don't say?" Judy pretended to be surprised.

"Uh huh. Would you believe it?" Nick jumped under his duvet and yawned deeply, as he lay down comfortably. "Sorry, but I'm dying for some sleep. G'night, Carrots."

"Good night, Nick," she replied and turned off the lights. As the darkness succumbed them, Judy felt sleepy immediately just as well. Who'd have thought that a casual train ride could be this exhausting?

* * *

 _Saturday night, August 31, 2020_

Judy was woken up by a sudden gust of cold air. She mumbled something incoherently and looked around carefully.

"Nick?" She muttered and realized that the fox was nowhere in the room. She found in darkness some hoodie of hers and some warm pants from her backpack and then, went on to search for her friend.

She quickly figured that he was nowhere inside, but only by sheer luck did she catch a contour of his on a hill just by the house. Judy climbed it silently and sat next to Nick. As she shivered, he wrapped his blanket around her a well.

"Dying for some sleep, huh?" She pointed out half-jokingly.

"Oh, I was. Three hours ago or so," he assured. "Now, I just can't sleep. And since staring whole night at you would be super creepy, I figured I'd be stargazing outside instead," he explained light-heartedly. "You have amazing night sky out there. Really, how is it no one's watching it tonight?"

"It's less exciting when you see it every day," Judy explained. Before Nick pointed how beautiful it was, she never even looked up to the stars, just let them pass by.

"I imagine," he agreed a bit reluctantly. "There are lots of awesome places in Zootopia I never gave a second thought just because they've always been around."

"You usually notice them only when they're gone."

"Now you sounded like golden thoughts from teenage girl's secret journal," Nick pointed out and she elbowed him not so gently.

"You started it," she blamed him, but he replied nothing. For a moment, two of them watched the stars. "Do you want to stay here for a while?" She wondered and Nick hugged her a bit stronger.

"It'd be nice."

* * *

 _Sunday morning, September 1, 2020_

When in Rome, do as Romans do, the old proverb says. Which, in case of Nick in Bunny Burroughs, meant that he was woken up at an unholy hour of, approximately, way too early. After a quick shower, quick breakfast and short chase after their bus that had an awful tendency of turning up couple minutes earlier than supposed, Nick and Judy arrived at the Carrot Days fair. It was everything Nick expected from a rural summer fair: snack stands, carnival games, a small theater in a barn, a hay maze and lots and lots of kits running around with tickets, begging parents for couple more cents for another game. First thing they came to, was a play in the barn organized by Judy's old primary school, which both of them really enjoyed: Judy due to nostalgia and to Nick had lot of fun simply imagining his partner fifteen years earlier, announcing to the whole world that she was going to become a ZPD officer, much to the horror of her parents.

"Did you know back then?" He asked, as they were leaving after the show with the rest of the audience.

"What and back when?" Judy watched him with slight confusion.

"That you'd really be a cop. Back when you were standing on that stage," he clarified.

"Oh. Yes, I did. No one really believed, but I guess I simply wasn't noticing it," she explained and giggled. "I can be blind as a bat, if needed."

"Or not," added Nick and, before Judy managed to riposte, walked to one of the games. "Hey, a shooting game! Wanna try it out?" He suggested and walked over to it, when Judy caught him by elbow and dragged in another direction.

"That one's super hard. Let's try this one," Judy suggested, dragging him to the darts.

"Are you saying I can't shoot?"

"I'm saying Kaylee would have problems winning anything in there, leave alone us," she clarified, as they walked over to another stand. It was a usual dart game; players were given four darts a game and were supposed to break as many balloons as they could. While most of them were empty, some contained rewards: plushies hanging above their heads. Judy paid for the game and handed Nick two darts. He checked them stealthily. They were rather sharp and balloons seemed well-inflated. That gave them a fair chance.

"Alright, ladies first," suggested Nick and allowed Judy to make a first throw. She tossed the dart with strength of an average tranquilizer gun, but it slipped by a balloon and ended up stuck in the board between the two of them. Judy huffed with annoyance, while Nick lifted his dart. "Now, observe master in action," he suggested with a confident smirk. The fox aimed carefully, calmed his breath and pitched the dart right in the middle of already popped balloons zone. The two of them stared at the dart in silence for quite a moment.

"So, master raises tension by intentionally missing the first shot?" Judy wondered.

"No risk, no fun," he shrugged carelessly, as if it was his plan all along. Judy rolled her eyes, grabbed her second dart and threw it. This time, she popped a balloon, but nothing fell out.

"Sorry, miss. This one was empty," apologized the vendor. "Maybe Mr. will have some better luck?" He said, as Nick grabbed the last dart.

"It's not matter of luck, but skill," Nick replied, sending the last dart toward the board. He popped another balloon and something even fell out of it. The vendor grabbed it and showed to them. "Number one. It's the biggest one, isn't it?" He guessed hopefully, watching a massive carrot plushie hanging right above them.

"Um… let me find it," suggested the vendor. His paw reached to the carrot and then, passed by it and grabbed something above it. "There it is, sir! Your reward!" He handed to Nick a carrot plushie of size of a his paw, which the fox estimated carefully.

"Why, thank you," Nick replied smiling, as they walked away from the stand.

"Well, you can't win all the time," Judy pointed out.

"Oh, I consider it a win. There are lots of advantages to such small plushie over the gigantic one. You see, it's more convenient to carry, doesn't take all that space in a small room, you can easily throw it to someone…"

"Have you considered working in retail? You're wasting your talents here."

"I did. That's how we met," he winked her. "And if I may remind you, you did not like it…" Suddenly, Judy stopped him. Her ears perked up rapidly, as she turned around and looked out.

"Do you hear it?" She asked.

"Apparently not."

"Someone's calling for help," Judy said and dragged him by the sleeve. The fox followed until the two of them could hear the calls. They weren't exactly cries for help, but sounded more like a parent calling their children, but they did seem desperate. Nick and Judy found finally its source; it was a sheep in middle age, standing in front of entrance to the Hay Maze and calling out.

"Benny! Benny!"

"Detective Hopps and this is my partner, Detective Wilde. Can we be of assistance?" Judy asked. The sheep stopped yelling and watched the two of them carefully.

"Yes, my son, Benny, ran off into the Hay Maze and we couldn't find him anywhere for last half an hour. My husband's been looking for him in the maze, I'm waiting here whole the time," she explained.

"How old is he? How is he dressed? Was he with anyone?"

"He's five and he went in there alone. He wore… umm… red and azure striped shirt, black, short pants and a red hat," the sheep described her son briefly. Judy glanced at Nick and he nodded slightly.

"Alright, we'll look for him, Mrs. …" Judy watched her expectantly.

"Ramsey. Angelica Ramsey. Thank you for your help," she said and Nick and Judy went to look for the small sheep. Instead of entering the maze, though, they walked around it first; if his father had been there for last half an hour, there was no point of them entering it too for a moment. "He might be still inside. They made it much bigger this year," said Judy as they were somewhere in the halfway.

"And higher," Nick agreed. He jumped up, but couldn't get above the stacks of hay. "We could just climb it and look for him like this…"

"Or check it out," Judy pointed at something just by their feet. It was a small hole between packs of hale. They estimated it carefully. "Enough for a kid."

"And there's wool in the hay," Nick reached for a small lump of white wool and shown it to Judy. "So he left."

"Can you smell him out?" Judy hoped.

"Too many sheep smells around here. Let's just look around," he said and they walked around the field on the back of the fair. And then, Judy felt a sting to the back of her head.

"Ouch!"

"What the…" Nick was hit with a small stone too and they heard a giggle above them. On the highest branch of a small oak next to them was sitting a young sheep in a striped shirt and red hat with a slingshot in his paw.

"Double kill!" He shouted triumphantly.

"There you are, Benny!" Nick called him enthusiastically. "Nice shot, why don't you get off the tree now?"

"Or what will you do?!" The sheep shot a pebble couple inches from Nick's face and climbed a little higher. Nick and Judy's sights met and they sighed simultaneously.

"I'll talk to him," he decided and Judy nodded.

"This is my tree! Get lost!" Young sheep yelled at Nick and shot other two pebbles. They didn't hit him in the face only because he covered it with his paw.

"Are you having good fun? Has anyone except for us even come over here?" He wondered.

"You're enough!" Benny replied shooting another pebble, this time in his torso.

"You do realize you will run out of pebbles, though?"

"Got plenty of them here! I can shoot anyone that comes near!" Another pebble flew at Nick, but this time it missed. It angered the sheep so much that he shot several others at the fox, the most of which he was able to dodge with minimal, unnoticeable moves.

"Anyone?" The fox asked.

"Anyone!" The sheep declared firmly.

"Benny!" They heard an angry, distant shout. Nick didn't even have to turn around to know that it was Benny's mother whom Judy went for. He just enjoyed the horror appearing over kid's face.

"Mom?" His voice trembled slightly.

"Get off this tree this instant, young man!" She called him.

"But…"

"Now!" The mother's shout froze blood in Nick and Judy's veins, leave alone the kid's. Benny climbed down the tree slowly and stood in front of his mother with his head hung down. She took the slingshot from his paws and broke it in half and tossed it aside. "I warned you last time, one more stunt like that and your slingshot's, boy!" She continued to yell at him with Judy and Nick standing in the back silently. "You're grounded for week, you hear me?! No video games, no TV and no going out with friends!"

"Yes, mom," muttered the sheep.

"And you'll apologize to the detectives for shooting them this instant!" She dragged him by the shoulder to the detectives. Benny lowered his head and mumbled something indistinctively. His mother cleared her throat meaningfully and the kid repeated himself.

"I'm sorry for shooting you," he muttered.

"Apology accepted," Judy assured and Nick nodded confirming.

"Now, Benny, we're finding your father and we're going back home!" The mother announced.

"But mom…"

"I said!" She yelled at him and Benny hung his head even lower and walked back to the carnival. Angelica Ramsey stopped by the detectives for a moment more. "I'm sorry for Benny. Kids being kids," she apologized politely.

"It's nothing. We're glad we could help," Nick assured. Mrs. Ramsey thanked them once again and followed her son, continuing to scold him quietly. Nick and Judy watched the two disappearing between the stands.

"It was fun, wasn't it?" Judy noticed smiling.

"His face when his mother came was worth every pebble he landed," agreed Nick. "But now, let's get back there and for a change, be the guys that are shooting things down," he suggested. They came back to the fair, where they spent the remainder of morning and afternoon, visiting almost every stand, shooting almost everything, winning plushie big enough for Nick to have to piggyback it and spending a bit more money than they planned to. Right as they came back to Hopps family house, tired but satisfied, the group of kits from earlier brutally abducted Nick and forced him to play with them whole evening. To ease his pain, Nick managed of course to drag Judy in it along with him. Overall, it was a good, but ridiculously exhausting day.

* * *

 _Saturday afternoon_

"No way. There is no freaking way!" Yelled a familiar voice so loud that Judy heard it despite her headphones. She paused the music, left her room and found the source of continuing shouts. In a not so big living room, three teenage rabbits and Nick were sitting by the table and playing some board game. The oldest one of them who was also the source of disbelieving shouts, Danny, was leaning against the table with face hidden in paws, while two of his brothers kept cackling. Nick was just sitting comfortably oppositely to Danny with his usual smug smirk.

"What's going on?" Judy asked, even if seeing the state of board and their faces, she could already tell.

"So, Danny invited Nick since we missed the fourth player," explained one of Danny's brothers.

"I warned that I haven't played any board games for ages, so Danny told me not to worry about losing too quickly. I promised it won't be much of a problem. Is it, Danny?" Nick noticed, as he pushed his soldiers to Danny's capital and he only grumbled something incoherently. "I thought so too."

"Beginner's luck," muttered the rabbit lifting himself from the table. "I'm out," he said and walked out the door.

"Someone's salty," chuckled another rabbit. "Judy wanna join? We have an empty seat, it seems," he offered.

"Why not? But let's play something else. And do not give Nick any cards to shuffle this time, guys, for your own sake," Judy eyed her partner, as she sat oppositely to him. Nick put a paw to his heart, as his smug smile disappeared rapidly.

"Carrots, you offend me!" He exclaimed theatrically.

"No, I just know you," she riposted. The fox shook his head with disgust, but said nothing and helped others clear up the previous game. They played again and this time, Nick wasn't even touching the cards, leave alone shuffling. This time, he placed merely second. Judy could probably consider it a success, had she only not ended up last.

* * *

 _Friday evening_

That evening, Judy was helping her mother with the dinner. She hadn't done it very often; before she left to Zootopia, she didn't really like it and avoided it at all costs. She could be cleaning, washing, babysitting, but she never liked cooking until recently and her mother acknowledged her help with utmost surprise.

"Since when do you like being in the kitchen, bun?" Asked Bonnie Hopps curiously and Judy shrugged.

"I guess since when I lived with Kaylee for couple weeks. You know, after her Nighthowler incident. She's an excellent cook," Judy explained and looked out the window. Among the stacks of hay, Nick Wilde was playing with a group of kits.

"Ah, of course. It's so good for her that she found a decent boy like Reynolds," Bonnie said, chopping some vegetables and looking over the soup in meanwhile.

"Have you two met before?" Judy asked. She did not remembered such an incident.

"Oh, only briefly and he was most charming. And you do hold him in such high esteem," her mother explained. "You see, even cops like Kaylee and Max found time to get married," Bonnie nudged her daughter.

"Mom…" Judy moaned with annoyance. "It's not about time. it's about… I still have plenty of time," she argued a bit awkwardly.

"I already had children and house when I was your age," her mother said.

"It was different back then," Judy replied. "Houses were more affordable and…"

"It's not about house prices, honey," Bonnie interrupted her. "It's about whether you're ready or not," she said and for a moment, both of them looked out the window and watched Nick playing with the kits in the hay. They were battling with wooden swords, Nick really enjoying himself, as he defended his position from multiple attacks.

"You love him, don't you?" Bonnie asked quietly, lots of feelings mixing in her question: pride, angst, concern. Judy watched her carefully and then, turned back at Nick.

"I'd die for him," she clenched her paws slowly.

"But you're worrying sick about him," her mother guessed.

"All I want, is for him to be happy. He was before Young. He seems now, but… but it's only illusionary. The things that happened back in Zootopia were wrong on so many levels. Spencer Young got the worst out of us. He showed how easily we can be divided, how easy it's to blame a minority for all the evil. How cheap we are. He simply nudged the city and they all called Nick a murderer immediately. They dragged him through the mud. Hamilton muzzled him and walked through the square in strains just for fun," Judy said and took a deep breath. Just the thought was making her paws shake in anger.

"And you don't know what to do."

"I want old Nick back. Back in Zootopia, back in ZPD, back where we used to be. I just don't know, if that could even work again and I don't know how to talk with him about it," she confessed with her eyes awfully watery, when she felt her mother's paw grasping hers.

"Do you remember how you quit ZPD after that unfortunate conference? You were working at our stand for couple months, sinking lower and lower right in front of us. Back then… I wanted you to go back to the city so badly," Bonnie confessed. "I wanted the old Judy to smile again, say something idealistically naïve and rush back to Zootopia. But there was no coming back to idealistically blind Judy Hopps. Instead, there came brand new Judy; one that saw her own mistakes and was determined to fix them," she explained, looking deeply into her daughter's eyes.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Judy asked bitterly.

"Let him take his time like you once did," Bonnie suggested. "He surely is a huge mess at the moment, but he'll figure it out eventually. In meanwhile, he will need you, so be there for him wherever he decides to go. That's the best you can do."

"And if he decides…" Judy hesitated. And if he leaves ZPD forever? What will she do, stop him? Would she have any right to stop him, if he wanted to go? She dwelled on it for a silent moment and then, she came to terms with the only right answer; she would not have any right to stop him. "No mammal steps in this same river twice, huh?" Judy sighed with surrender. "I guess you're right. There's no coming back. We can only go on and hope for it to guide us well," she admitted. Her mother smiled and nodded.

"Be there for him, bun. It might not seem as much, but it's making all the difference in the world," promised Mrs. Hopps. "Now, go and call them for the dinner, could you?"

"I'm on it," Judy assured and left the kitchen, keeping in heart what her mother had told her back there. Sometimes, if you really love someone, you have to let them go. It wasn't an easy thing to Judy, but if it was the one thing that she could to help Nick, then it was the one thing she was going to do.

* * *

 _A few moments later_

By the time Judy found them, Nick and kits stopped battling with their wooden swords. Instead, the fox himself was sitting on top of the hay pyramid like a king on his throne; he even had a wreath of yellow flowers on his head and a wooden sword in the right paw. The kits whom she hadn't noticed at first, started surrounding her, most of them armed. If this wasn't her family and best friend, it'd feel super creepy right now. Judy stopped before the pyramid of hay and watched Nick expectantly. If he wanted to put up a show, this was the moment.

"Well, well, well," Nicholas Wilde watched the newcomer from his throne. "Who art thou that dearr to enter into my domain?!" He demanded to know, his voice deep and hoarse.

"Mom's calling you for dinner," Judy explained casually and he frowned.

"What forsaken tongue doth thou speak?!" The fox yelled from his throne angrily and kits around her giggled. Judy rolled her eyes, as she noticed fox's slight smirk. She bowed before him theatrically.

"I am but humble emissary of Madame Hopps. She calls her younglings back to the fortress, for the feast time is nigh," she explained and watched Nick carefully. He barely contained laughter.

"Ha! Madame Hopps has no power in my domain!"

"The younglings belong to…"

"The younglings serve only those that find worthy! Guards! To the carcern with her!" He ordered and the rabbits started surrounding her, but Judy reacted just in time.

"Madame Hopps has wonderful gifts for those that choose to return into her protectorate. Far greater than any that thou cannst give!" She yelled in her defense and Wilde withheld them with a single gesture of paw. Now, Judy was actually impressed. Every single rabbit listened to a single gesture of his paw.

"And what is it, emissary?" The fox demanded to know.

"The ice cream desserts," Judy explained tersely and everyone fell silent. The rabbits were weighing in their minds both factions' offers. And then, they slowly turned at Nick, drawing their swords. His eyes grew wide, as he realized that they made their choice. The rabbits passed by Judy and climbed the hay pyramid toward the fox. He drew his sword and jumped to his feet.

"Nay! Nay!" He yelled, as he fended them off, but his fate was already sealed. After a stab to the back, he howled in pain, dropped his sword theatrically and rolled down the pyramid to the last hay level. The kits ran down back to him, grabbed him and started dragging back to the house. As they passed by Judy, the 'dead' fox opened one of his eyes weakly.

"Hopps…" he whispered.

"Nicholas, the Wild, Revolutionary of the South, thine reign is over," Judy announced triumphantly. Nick chuckled weakly and then coughed, as if he was choking with his own blood.

"My ancestors art proud of me. Cannst thou say the same?" Were his last words. Judy watched the 'dead' fox in grim silence. And then, she burst into uncontrollable laughter, only seconds later accompanied by Nick.

* * *

 _Wednesday evening_

Judy yawned deeply, as she walked down the stairs to the living room. Down there, her father was playing card with two of his neighbors; Mr. Garret, a ferret and Mr. Larcher, a rabbit. The last, but certainly not the least one mammal sitting by the table was no one else, but Nick Wilde. She had to give it to him, he knew how to drag himself in this sort of games. After a day-long bike trip the two of them took, he planned to take a shower and go to sleep immediately, but on his way back to Judy's room he fell at Mr. Hopps who was looking for the fourth player. The fox, skilled with cards, accepted the offer immediately, even though he only once had played the game they were now; canasta. This was almost two hours ago.

Judy came to the dining room, greeting everyone and she leaned against back of Nick's chair. She checked his cards, yawning deeply.

"Are these good?" She pretended to not know that the fox had a god-like cards there. Mr. Garret dropped an eight at rather decent pile in the middle with tension and Nick smirked. He pulled out another two eights from his paws and, listening to Garret and Larcher's curses, grabbed whole the pile.

"Oh, I'm doing decently," he started sorting the cards as Mr. Hopps, his partner in game, chuckled. "Two or three games more and I think we're done here," Nick promised, putting most of his cards down on the table.

"With no doubt! Your boy's doing excellently, Jude!" Congratulated Mr. Hopps and Judy blushed slightly. Couple things and everyone already thought of them as a couple. Rabbit thing, huh?

"Go to sleep, Carrots. You must be dead tired after today," Wilde worried about her and, as if to only confirm her words, the bunny yawned again.

"And we're supposed to help with that tractor tomorrow in the morning so don't stay up for too long," she reminded him. "Goodnight, everyone," she bounced off his chair and walked back to the corridor. All four players bided her goodnight and followed her with sight.

"What a fine girl…" Mr. Larcher muttered.

"She could be your daughter," pointed out Mr. Garret.

"Where were we? Oh, right. Your turn, Mr. Garret," Nick said, putting down a single card on newly forming pile in the middle. Mr. Garret watched his cards, the table, the pile and drew a new card. He cursed under his breath.

"Now you come, from all of times… Can we just give up, Stu?" He asked half-jokingly, but with gentle tone of despair.

 _An hour later_

Mr. Garret wasn't very wrong in his pleads; two games later, Mr. Hopps and Nick sealed their decisive victory. They walked the guests to the exit and Nick was about to go back to the bedroom too, when Stu Hopps stopped him.

"Come on, boy. We've got to talk," he said and led Nick back to the dining room. The fox sat by the table and Stu Hopps took place right next to him. Wilde watched the rabbit expectantly, but he only sighed deeply, gathering thoughts.

"What is it, Mr. Hopps?"

"I told you to call me Stu," the rabbit reminded him. "I'll be honest, Nick, I've been some shitty father at times," he stated bitterly.

"A rabbit who raised this many kits can't be a bad father," Nick disagreed politely and the rabbit chuckled.

"Oh, kits have never been dirty or shabby. They ate well and went to decent schools. That's not what I'm talking about," Stu said. "It was about the lessons I was teaching them. One lesson, in fact."

"What do you mean?"

"I used to tell my children to aim… reasonably. Not too high, just where they could reach for sure. Judy never listened and I guess I learnt that she was right only after she succeeded."

"Well, that's Judy for you," Nick smirked.

"Yes, but the thing is… she's right. We should aim high. How do they say? Shoot for the moon? Even if you miss…" He was looking for the rest of proverb in his head.

"You'll end up in cold, dead space?" Nick guessed and Stu chuckled.

"No, it was something about the stars. You know what I'm trying to say," he said.

"I do, but I have not a clue how it applies to me," the fox replied.

"The thing is, I've always been giving that poor advice of aiming low. So for once, I want to say this: aim high, Nick. Be who you want to be, not who the world wants to be," Stu told him.

"I…"

"A lot of mammals are expecting a lot from you. Zootopia wants you back with them. They want you to be their banner, proof that they came out on top. Don't give a damn about it. It's your life, not theirs, no one will live it for you. Not mayor, not ZPD, not your mother… not even Judy."

"She surely wouldn't be pleased if I left," he noticed with a smirk, trying to turn it all in a joke, but the rabbit did not even smile.

"She'll understand. It'll be tough, but she cares for you and she'll understand," promised Mr. Hopps. "She's a wise doe. And so should be you. Don't waste your life on what others expect from you."

"I will not," Nick promised.

"I hope so," Mr. Hopps patted him on the shoulder and stood up from his chair. "Good night, Nick."

"Good night," the fox replied, but instead of going back to the bedroom, he remained where he sat, considering Judy's father's words carefully. Of course, the thought had been crossing his thought before; to leave ZPD and find some other profession. He'd certainly manage; even if he wasn't returning to the hustles, Duchess's recent offer seemed really attractive. But the fact that such words came from Mr. Stu Hopps really left him wondering. Maybe it really was the way? If all that ZPD could have offered him was a kick to the tail, why should he bother to come back if they'd only do it again to him sooner or later?

Nick was sitting in his chair wondering. As the night was passing, more and more realizations came to the fox's mind. Before the dawn, he found his path anew.

* * *

 _Tuesday morning_

"Wakey, wakey, you lazy fox!" Judy woke up Nick, throwing a plushie right in his head, but he only muttered something incoherently rolling over to the other side.

"We still have time…" he muttered sleepily while she was running around the room, already dressed.

"Half an hour for shower, breakfast and to pack up! Is this plenty of time to you?" Judy asked him angrily, as she was collecting last items for the trip.

"I already packed and showered in the evening," he informed her and Judy paused to comprehend the news.

"Oh."

"Yup. I'm just on time," assured the fox lifting himself from the bed and finding his shirt. He dressed in less than three minutes and tidied up his side of bed. "So, are we going for the breakfast?" He suggested.

"I'm packed, I think. Yes, let's go," she agreed. They left the room with rather big backpacks on their bags and stopped by in the dining room. There, they met with Judy's younger brother who worked in Zootopia as a firefighter and helped greatly Judy in slipping away from police, Alan, and his girlfriend, Tatiana. They had come back from Zootopia for a week's vacation and invited both Nick and Judy to join them on a three-day bike trip, an offer they simply couldn't reject. And so, having checked for the last time if they had everything and if their bikes worked fine, the four of them emerged on a journey.

* * *

 _Tuesday evening_

All in all, it felt like a really long day and it couldn't even be blamed on the fact that they had been riding their bikes with only short breaks for last ten hours. If anyone told Nick before that in forests beyond Bunny Burroughs there was so much to see, he'd never believe them. Vivid rivers, beautiful lakes, some very old trees… even now, they were stopped at a sandy coast just by a small lake with water so clear, it'd be a sin not to dive into it. Neither Alan or Nick wasted the opportunity.

"It's so clear because of lime and sand that are covering the bottom. No plant can live with such ground," explained Alan, as they were leaving the water. At the shore, the bonfire crackled characteristically, leaving in the air pleasant smell of birch tree smoke. While they were drying themselves, Judy and Tatiana were roasting the marshmallows. Already changed, fox stole couple from Judy's branch and sat by her.

"Water's awesome. Like a swimming pool, only better," he encouraged her.

"I know, I live here," Judy reminded him with amusement, but then, he tried to steal another one. "Hey, roast your own!" She moved the stick away from him rapidly.

"Your taste better," Nick argued, but she only swung it even further away, reached for a fresh pack and threw it at his laps.

"There you are," she smirked, eating hers before he'd manage to steal the rest of them. Nick sighed and rolled his eyes theatrically.

"Can you see what I have to put up with?" Fox turned to Alan and Tatiana, seated just opposite to them.

"Oh, that's nothing. You haven't seen…" Alan tried to complain, when he sprung up, pinched in tail by his girlfriend. "Um… yeah, exactly what I meant," he said sitting down carefully, watching his girlfriend's paws carefully.

"Yeah, poor boys. Those mean girls didn't give away all the marshmallows they roasted while they were swimming," Judy riposted sarcastically.

"Yeah…" Alan coughed off, trying to change the subject desperately. "So, how did you like the first day of the trip, Nick? I guess you haven't been at many such camps before…"

"No, not really," Nick confirmed. He almost went to one with Junior Ranger Scouts, crossed his mind, but he didn't think twice of that shot episode of his life. "It's nice. I haven't been this worn-out since the Academy, but the views are better," the fox chuckled.

"And ice-cold baths aren't mandatory," Judy added with a chuckle.

"And food is better," Nick agreed and paused realizing that he had just scorched his marshmallow. He took it off the stick carefully and ate the small charred thing in his paws after short hesitation.

"The food certainly is better," he repeated with a smirk and everyone laughed.

"It is an ill bird that fouls his own nest," pointed out Alan half-jokingly.

"You're saying it only because you never were there," Judy defended Nick.

"That bad?" Tatiana asked disbelievingly.

"The one time I ate something good, was when I sneaked out and ordered a pizza," fox assured and chuckled. "Ah, old good times!" He leaned back and laid on the grass, staring in the sky. "The view's beautiful too."

"If you want to see the stars, we should extinguish the bonfire…" suggested Alan.

"After my dead body," Tatiana interrupted him abruptly. "We weren't setting it up for last hour, so you can…"

"I'm kidding. Just kidding," Alan assured, leaning back against his paws and staring high in the sky. "Do you feel sometimes like dropping everything and coming back here, guys?" He asked suddenly.

"No, not really. Why?" Judy replied when Nick said nothing.

"Oh, just a… random thought. But you know, when I come back here, I start wondering, why did I even go to Zootopia. To change the city? Surely not. How can a single rabbit change the world? I can help couple mammals a day at best. Then for what? Wealth? Adventure? Excitement? Validation?" Alan asked, staring in the sky.

"I think…" Judy looked up. "it's more about the journey than the destination. We'll only know where we are going when we'll have already arrived," Judy replied after hesitation.

"And I think your marshmallows are burning," Tatiana pointed out much more earthly matter.

"Oh, darn it!"

* * *

 _Tuesday night_

Alan and Tatiana went to sleep rather quickly, but Nick and Judy remained by the bonfire, throwing wood in the fire once in a while, watching it being consumed by the flames.

"I think it's the first such evening in a while," Nick noticed.

"Such?"

"When we're alone. No kits, no board games, no parties, no… anything. Just us," the fox explained and Judy nodded.

"True. Days go by way too fast, don't they?" Noticed the bunny.

"Mhm. And they've been lots of fun, but all that's good has to end one day. We've spent here quite a long time," Nick said longingly and Judy understood him immediately. As pleasant as it was, such bliss couldn't last forever. And to think that, given how much time they spent here, they had not even talked of recent happenings even once.

"A lot of bad things happened," Judy said.

"So many bad things that I don't even know what was the worst part of it all," agreed Nick. Would it be how city slandered him? Or maybe how Hamilton walked him through the city square in handcuffs and his hated muzzle? Or how she betrayed the police for personal gains? Or how Nick couldn't prevent death of Detective Sullivan, enacting right in front of him? Or how he dragged Judy, and others in all of this, almost killing Kaylee and Jack in result? Or how in the end, he failed to arrest the mastermind behind this, but watched him jumping to his death?

"But we do have to move on, don't we?" Judy asked just before all the grim thoughts filled his head.

"Yes, we do. I've done a lot of thinking on all of it and I bet that so did you," the fox smiled to her weakly. "The city treated me like a piece of trash simply out of convenience. They slandered me and spat in my face, only to forget about everything when it turned out they were wrong. For whole the time here, I was wondering… If this is how city treats me, why should I care about the city at all?"

"Nick…" Judy grabbed his paw suddenly and they exchanged sights; hers troubled, his somehow tranquil.

"Yes?"

"Whatever you decide… Whatever you want to do, I'll be there for you," Judy promised.

"I know," he gave her a smile that made her see how much he really needed this. "I… I think something cracked in me back then, at that conference. Any of my delusions of Zootopia… if there were any before… are now gone. This city… sometimes it seems as nothing but greedy, dull and hateful crowd, ruled by populist slanders and catchy political phrases and I… I don't want to stand for something this outrageous," he explained and watched Judy expectantly. It really flattered her, how he cared about her opinion.

"They hurt you. You have a right to be angry with them. If that's what you want, then you should not stand for it anymore," she said with a note of disappointment, but fully understanding and supporting his decision. He acknowledged it thankfully, knowing how hard it must have been to her.

"I felt so before we left Zootopia. And then…" Nick hesitated, unsure how to put it. "And then, I realized I never was there for the city in the first place. I was there for its people. I joined the force because I finally met someone that believed in me. I met you," he spoke and their eyes met for a short moment. They exchanged smiles and fox continued.

"You believed in me and so, I tried to believe in myself too. The city never really changed. Not back then, not now. There will always be someone that will slur you simply because of what you are, not caring who you are. A lot of such voices gained power in recent weeks, but… but they're not what matters. What matter are the people, not the city. The people that believe in you and even at my lowest, there were plenty: Kaylee, Max, my mother, Jack and Gwen, even Duchess believed me without a second thought… and first of all, you," he paused, a bit embarrassed of how sappy he sounded. Nonetheless, he continued.

"And I figured… I figured that as long as there's one mammal that wants me to help, that asks me to help or even believes that I can help… then I will. No matter what the city has to say about it, I'm coming back," Nick assured and turned at Judy. He could see how she was barely containing her excitement, as she realized he was going to stay in ZPD. "You thought I was going to quit, didn't you?" He chuckled.

"The way you started?! Of course I did!" Judy squeezed his arm and squeak excitedly. "Sweet cheese and crackers, I was already thinking of how our lives would look like then or who'd be my partner if not you or…" She paused, realizing the way he stared at her. "What?"

"But you were not trying to stop me. Not today, not before. You saw that I was tending toward just leaving it all behind and yet you didn't try anything. No charismatic, touching speeches, no…" he waved his paws, lacking words as rarely. "No Judy magic. You had whole month and yet you didn't try even once. Why?" He really couldn't understand it. It must have been puzzling him for whole time spent in Bunny Burroughs.

"Why not to try and convince you to come back?" Judy asked and he nodded. "I guess… I quickly realized it would be pointless. You didn't know yourself what you really wanted. How could I know better?" The bunny explained and, seeing that his confusion still remained, she continued.

"Yes, I wanted you back. I really, really did. But first of all, I wanted you to be happy and you wouldn't be if I just… told you what's best for you. You needed to find it for yourself, with no one walking you down a path they find right. So I decided that I'd walk with you, but I should let you choose your own path," Judy confessed. "And wherever you'd wind up in the end, I'd be happy if so were you," she promised.

"I… thank you. For that you are here. And that you let me find the answer on my own," he said finally and Judy giggled. As cool as he pretended to be, she really liked to see him touched or emotional.

"Oh, I almost forgot, I have something for you! Since you're coming back to ZPD, I figured that you're going to need… this," Judy searched for something in her hoodie's pocket and handed it to him. Even in the darkness illuminated merely by the bonfire light, Nick recognized it immediately. This was a police badge. His one, with the "L" that he scratched when Donovan smacked him with a metal pipe a year earlier. Nick took it slowly and carefully from her, not fully believing his eyes.

"Wow. I… Wow," as rarely, he lacked words and Judy enjoyed the view of flabbergasted Nick more than she'd care to admit. "You… How did you find it?"

"It found me, really," Judy smiled. "Timothy Silver, a young coyote. He couldn't catch you anywhere, but met me at the station. He wanted to give it to you, said that you need it more than he does. And that he's going to get his own in no time anyway," she explained, as Nick kept watching his badge.

"I guess. Wow," the fox agreed. "Would you mind?" He asked, offering the badge to Judy. She smiled, took it back. Hopps gazed into the eyes of her partner and then, carefully attached the badge to Nick's T-shirt.

"Detective Nicholas Piberius Wilde, welcome back to Zootopia Police Department, Precinct 1. Downtown," Judy announced with her voice trembling with pride and excitement to the dark forest surrounding them. If anyone was watching, this act performed not in front of cameras, but under a dark, starry sky would probably seem trivial, if not silly. But to the two of them, this moment was just as important as the one when the fox accepted his badge for the first time. For Nicholas Wilde was coming back to ZPD, not unchanged, but full of determination. If not to change the city, then to at least help its people.


	25. Of what we deserve and what we receive

_11.47 am. Monday, November 4, 2020_

The fox was woken up by loudening hum of the plane's engines. He shook his head, reached for the bottle of water and sipped some of it, while looking out the window. He could see the dark blue waters of the sea limited by a green coast of the bay below and the long peninsula closing it off almost completely. He shivered, just thinking how cold a sea this far to the north would be.

 _"_ _Proszę Państwa, mówi kapitan. Lot numer LT 3827 relacji Lake City – Deńsk…"_ the pilot continued to speak in his characteristic, swishing language, which the fox could mostly understand, but then, he repeated everything in English.

 _"_ _Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Flight Number LT 3827 from Lake City to Deńsk will soon land. It is 11.47 am of Eastern Continental Time, and we've been in air for last eleven hours. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Old World,"_ he announced and fox felt the shivers of excitement. Several mammals, mostly elders, started clapping and fox hesitated if he shouldn't too, but then he heard couple teenagers next to him mocking the act, so he just waited patiently and enjoyed the view. Soon, the plane landed without any troubles and drove over to the gate. People started leaving, but the fox didn't hurry. He waited patiently for the most passengers and only then did he lift himself carefully, grab his cane in left paw and, limping heavily, left the plane. He almost tripped at the doorstep, but a flight attendant caught him just in time.

"Are you alright?" She asked in their native language.

"Y…yes, thank you," the fox assured, a bit embarrassed. He barely had two months of practice with the cane, sometimes still happened to slip down stairs or lose balance in least convenient places. Nonetheless, he continued to walk to the baggage claim area, where a single small briefcase was already waiting for him. The fox grabbed it and walked over to the passport control, standing in rather empty queue of "Non-Old World citizens". After a few minutes of waiting, he presented his passport to the customs officer.

"Staying for long, Mr. … Piotrowski?" He asked in English, but reading the name funnily to the fox; with "v" instead of "w". Only after a moment did he realize that it was how they read it originally and it did originate from these lands.

"Hopefully," he smiled and the officer returned his passport.

"Enjoy the Old World, Mr. Piotrowski," he wished the fox letting him pass. He then got to the arrival hall. There, among mammals waiting for their friends and families, he noticed a young deer with "Mr. Piotrowski" writing. He walked approached him not too hurriedly.

"Mr. Brz…" He struggled, trying to recall the name.

"Brzęczyszczykiewicz. Grzegorz. Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz," the deer introduced himself and, watching fox's face of pure horror, he laughed. "Brzeziński Michał. Sorry, I had to. Mr. Piotrowski, I assume?" He introduced himself in his native language and the fox switched to it too.

"Indeed. Pleased to meet you, Mr. ..."

"It's Michał, really. Or Michael, as you'd say," the deer dropped the formalities quickly.

"Thomas." replied the fox, as if testing the sound of his name and finding it unfitting. "It's… Tomasz, in your speech?"

"Or Tomek, if you want it to sound casual."

"Then please call me Tomek," asked the fox.

"Sure thing. Let's go, the car is waiting," Michał suggested and the two of them made their way outside and to the parking. The first reflection that struck the fox in the new surroundings, was that the cars were somewhat… smaller, humbler. Michał's one was a black, covered in mud kombi with passenger's door rusted a bit.

"Is it far from here?" The fox asked, while his driver was leaving the parking.

"Yeah, quite a route. One hundred and sixty kilometers south. Over an hour ride, if we take the highway," explained Michał. "They're expensive, but whatever. You never get the second time to make the first impression, right?" He snickered, as he turned toward the highway gates. The deer took his ticket and for ten or twenty minutes, they drove in silence.

"So, why settling down in here?" Michał asked suddenly.

"Do you mean the country, or the city?" Asked the fox instead.

"Both are the good questions. So, both?"

"My grandpa was born in here. I hardly remember him or any stories of his, but… but I had to go and I figured… where if not here?" He explained.

"And why Kędrzyn?" The deer spoke the name quickly that again, the fox failed to hear how to pronounce it properly. He had to check it on the Web.

"I liked the house. And it's a small, quiet city."

"Small, ha! One hundred and twenty thousand mammals must be small for a guy from Lake City!" Laughed Michał. "It's excellent choice, by the way. The city is beautiful. They dismantled the old town hall when they were rebuilding the capital after II World War, but they still have the cathedral and the promenade. You can find the best waffles in the city at the promenade. Probably the only ones," snickered the driver.

"I'll go and try," the fox promised, lost in his own thoughts. His driver continued to tell him about the city, the local customs and tips about mastering disastrously complicated local language, but the fox hardly listened, as he stared out the window blankly and watched the miles… or were those kilometers now… passing by slowly.

* * *

 _1.14 pm. Monday, November 4, 2020_

Just like Michał promised, they arrived at place in about one and half hour. They parked at the nearby parking and the deer guided the fox to the small house at the outskirts of the town. He watched it carefully; a simple story house with white walls and red roof surrounded by unkempt backyard with tall grass and metal fence. Michał pushed the gate and invited his guest to come in

"After you. It is yours after all," the deer smiled, as fox stepped through the gate and onto cobblestone path slowly, as if not believing his eyes. They stood before the door and Michał handed him the keys.

"Do the honors, Tomku," insisted the deer inflecting his name like they do in their language. The fox snatched keys and unlocked both locks. He pushed the door and stepped in. On the right, just behind the short entrance hall, was small kitchen, in front of him, a dining and living room with table for four, a coach and a rather big TV. Further on the left was the bathroom and two rather big rooms. The furniture wasn't modern, but well-kept and it didn't feel all that old.

"So, how do you like it?"

"Worth the price," fox assured and Michał chuckled in reply.

"I hope it is! So, you know how the deal works; if you find anything wrong with the house within a month, I'm fixing it on my own. If you're lost in our little country and unsure what to do, you can always call me. I live thirty kilometers from here, but I can still help."

"Thank you," the fox said.

"Oh, it's nothing. Well, then, Thomas Piotrowski…" the deer shook fox's paw. "Welcome to the Old World," he greeted him officially with a phrase that the fox had heard for the third time in last three hours.

"Thank you."

"Again, it's nothing. Oh, I'd forget. You got a letter to my address. Your sister asked me to give it to you on your arrival. Over here," Michał handed him a rather big envelope. "Good bye!"

"Good bye," the fox watched his guide leaving. When the door closed, he walked to the bathroom. He washed his face and paws and watched the reflection in the mirror. He saw the fox he did not recognize anymore, his face changed.

"Welcome to the Old World," a voice so unfamiliar and yet his, said. The fox shivered. Was that really who he was now? Thomas Piotrowski, an immigrant from Lake City?

He came back to the living room and stopped before the CD player just next to TV. The fox browsed CDs containing mostly classical music and played one of them. Gentle tones filled the house, as he sat down at the couch and unwrapped the envelope. Inside, he found some documents, a credit card and a postcard from Zootopia. The fox stared at the landscape of the city he knew so well and then turned it around and began to read.

 _Hey, brother!_

 _How was the travel? Long, I bet! I hope you like it, though. They say that the Old World really is a different world to us. And each country is a different world too. Maybe you'll see them all one day? I hope you do. It sounds like a great journey and what life is, if not a journey?_

 _Anyway, I sent you your credit card like you asked. Oh, and setting PIN as your birth day and month isn't really safe, you'd better change it! I checked the account, you should have enough money for couple months in there before you find a job. And I might have bought myself a coffee off of your card, so don't be surprised!_

 _Not much space left here, so I guess it's time to end. Best wishes from everyone, they're really missing you. I miss you too. Take care, bro. Oh, you must have heard it million times by now, but… Welcome to the Old World!_

 _Yours, Jenny!_

The fox stared at the beautiful signature. It was at that moment, as he stared at the handwriting of his savior, that Spencer Young broke down. The post card slipped out of his paw and the fox began to cry.

Half an hour after the initial breakdown, Spencer Young pulled himself back together and tried to sum up his situation. He was in the middle of Old World with fake and yet, valid documents. Both ID and passport passed their tests at the airport, which really surprised him. According to the birth certificate he had, he was now called Thomas Piotrowski, born on 03.03.1997 in Lake City. His father's name was Lewis, his mother Susan. Spencer studied the documents carefully, remembering all the details. The further documents were death certificates of both his parents along with a note that they died in a car crash two years earlier and all the details that the fox needed to remember to solidify his story. Further on, he saw a Lake City high-school diploma along with diploma from a small Lake City private university where he earned a Bachelor Degree in Electronics and completed pedagogical course fitting in the Old World's standards. And then, was the C1 Polish Language Proficiency Certificate, test for which Spencer had passed under the fake name almost month earlier. It was a funny thing; he had been studying this language hard in secret from everyone for two years now, while leaving Spanish language books in his house, so everyone would assume that if he goes abroad, he'd choose quite a different country. And it actually worked. Spencer shook his head with a slight smile continued to browse the papers. The next ones were permission for temporary stay in the country, detailed information of his bank account, several other documents and finally, a short note with instructions:

 _All the documents here are legit, don't fear to use them. You should have enough money for at least several months, but you'd better get a job quick. I'd suggest starting with the local high school. They're missing lots of teachers, including English and Math, which you should be able to cover. Start a local bank account, transfer the money from Lake City one and I'll close it in a month. You'll need to apply for permanent stay in two or three years, don't forget about it._

 _Oh, and if one day you decide to try and bring me down, trust me, you'll fail. Don't waste your life again to try. Settle down instead. Live a common life. Let that be your reward… and your punishment._

 _P.S. Burn this note (obviously)._

Spencer finished reading, put the note in a pocket and noted in mind to buy matches. In fact, there was a thousand things he had to buy. All he had in the small briefcase were clothes for couple days, laptop and a portable router valid for couple days more. Spencer searched the house thoroughly realizing that he had nearly nothing in there. He listed carefully everything he needed. Clothes, dishes and kitchen accessory, cleaning tools, bedclothes, food, Internet, a car even… The list was terrifyingly long, but it was giving him a sort of purpose. To try and gather everything before police catches up with him and puts an end to this farce.

* * *

 _8.21 pm. Monday, November 4, 2020_

After coming back to the house for the fourth time to unpack already full trunk of his rented car, Spencer Young, or rather Thomas Piotrowski now, drove over to the last stop of the day: a shopping market for everything that he was still missing, food included. Just a day in the city was enough to spot significant differences between mammals here and back in Zootopia. Firstly, there was much smaller species variety than back there, as ninety-eight percent of mammals belonged to temperate climate: mice, otters, foxes, gophers, sheep, pigs, horses, deer, wolves and many others. There were practically no animals bigger than bears around here. Secondly, there were no climate districts; there simply was no point for them. Hence, Spencer was meeting foxes everywhere in the city, something that he'd never expect in Zootopia. It was a nice change, actually. In a land far, far away, he felt more at home than he sometimes did in Zootopia. The third thing that caught his eye were the prices. Most products that weren't food were much cheaper than back in Zootopia, mostly because of much smaller value of the currency used around here and lower earnings. Some of the food, on the other side, was in comparable prices, which seemed ridiculous. Spencer actually asked someone about it, but all he heard, was a lengthy rant about the politicians and other thieves. Which led to another reflection, something that Spencer had read about before; general low respect for government and law enforcers. In Zootopia, people voted for their favorite politicians and police was well-respected, at least in general. Here… everyone in government was a thief or liar and generally people voted on radicals or the lesser evil. Cheating the system was sort of national sport around here. That, Spencer learnt of from a heated discussion in a pizzeria, which he happened to witness. Speaking of which, the difference number five; on one hand, mammals here were generally quieter and less expressive than in Zootopia or in the south. On the other hand they were very hospitable and if you got them started, then oh boy, did the discussions get heated. And there probably was a thousand more small differences like this that Spencer failed to notice on the first day here, but he already understood why so many referred to it as "The Old World". Because it was quite a different world compared to what he used to know. With a chill down his bones, he realized so while old lady by the cash register was passing all the products and the fox was putting them back in the trolley.

"Czterystapięćdziesiatdziewięćzłotychsześćdziesiątgroszyipoproszępańskidowód," said the cashier so fast that Spencer only caught the price thanks to the display in front of him. Almost four hundred and sixty Zlotys, approximately over hundred Zootopia dollars and he had his trolley full. It was ridiculous how much you could buy here for such small money. Spencer handed five hundreds to the cashier, but she only stared at him blankly.

"Ma osiemnaście? Dowód, boniesprzedam!" She huffed at Spencer angrily and he was slowly starting to panic, having not a clue what could she want from him.

"Mr.? She wants to see your ID, since you're buying alcohol," Spencer heard a voice around him and turned around to see quite a beauty of a red vixen. She wasn't very tall, of average build, dressed in absolutely not out-standing jacket and jeans with nothing exceptional in her brown eyes. Just an vixen like thousands. And yet, there was something in her that had Spencer's attention fully. "Sir?" She asked with awkward amusement.

"Oh, of course. Do I really not look twenty-one?" Spencer reached for his ID and shown it to the cashier. She checked it and, muttering something quietly, gave the fox his change and Spencer moved away with his trolley hurriedly. Or at least he tried to, but driving it fast while helping himself with cane turned out almost impossible. Embarrassed with whole situation, he was pushing it carefully to his car, when the vixen from before appeared by him, carrying only a small bag herself.

"Need some help?" She offered. Spencer tried to turn around, thank her and pull the trolley while leaning against the cane at this same time and so, he only managed to slip and collapse miserably. The vixen gasped and helped him stand up.

"I'm so sorry! I thought… Can I help you, sir?" She asked with embarrassment.

"It's alright, really."

"I can push the trolley, if…" she offered and he nodded, allowing her.

"Dziękuję," he thanked in the local language.

"Oh, so you know how our language too! I thought a guy from Zootopia wouldn't know it at all?" She wondered and he stared at her with horror.

"Why do think I'm from Zootopia?" Spencer switched fully to the local language, somehow managing to contain the fear that struck him.

"You're from the New World for sure. Only there is the drinking age twenty-one. Beyond that, a lucky shot. Was I right?" She asked.

"It's Lake City, actually. Not so far away. And… my name's Thomas? Thomas Piotrowski. You can call me Tomek, though," he offered a paw and she shook it.

"Julia Nowik, pleased to meet you. And I like Thomas more," she said her name funnily, reading "J" as if it were "Y" and "w" as if it were "v". Local pronunciation, Spencer figured. "Which car is yours?" She asked.

"This one over here. Rented actually, not mine," he explained, finding the car keys and unlocking it. He opened the trunk and they started packing the shopping bags carefully. "Um… thanks for help. I'm still new around here."

"You're not a tourist, are you? And you're not visiting family. Do you live here?"

"Um… just moved in," Spencer explained, as he closed the trunk and took the trolley to return it. "Do you need a ride, by the way? I could drive you home," he offered. He really liked her and he'd hate such a friendship to end just like that.

"I was supposed to go back with a bus, but if you insist…" the vixen smirked, sitting herself in the passenger's seat. Her daring attitude kept embarrassing him.

"You're welcome. Where do you live?" He asked, sitting in driver's seat and preparing navigation in the phone.

"Kwietna 16," she said and saw him chuckling. "What?"

"Oh well, looks like we're neighbors then," he said and she turned at him with disbelief.

"You live at 14? That empty house for sale next to me?!" She asked with disbelief and he nodded. "No way! When did you even move in?!"

"Today, actually," he explained with a smile. "It's a small world, isn't it?"

"You don't say!" Julia chuckled. "Oh, gosh, it really is," she admitted and then, fell silent for a moment. Spencer enjoyed the moment, driving carefully through the town, handling the two pedals with right foot.

"What are you thinking about so much?" Spencer asked. He knew her for five minutes and already felt that silence wasn't fitting her.

"So, you're new to the town, huh? Alone, on your own. With no one to show you around and serve with tips about life here," she said casually. It took Young awkwardly long to realize she wasn't just thinking loudly or mocking him.

"Yeah, I… Oh…" he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Umm… Would you like to… show me around the city, Julia? I could really use someone like you," he finally managed to stutter.

"Oh, since you're asking so nicely…" Julia pretended to hesitate. "We can start tomorrow, if you have no other plans," she proposed.

"It… it would be amazing."

"OK, then we're settled. 5 pm sounds fine?"

"Yeah, just… perfect," Spencer, who had no plans for tomorrow… or the rest of his life whatsoever… assured. They chit-chatted for couple minutes more until they arrived at their street. The fox parked right in front of his house and left the car carefully.

"Do you need help with these?" Julia asked pointing at the trunk full of shopping bags.

"Oh, um… I think my masculinity has suffered enough as for one day," he joked and she smiled wonderfully. "Thank you, really."

"Oh, well. Until tomorrow, then," she waved him.

"Bye," Spencer followed her with sight carefully and then, trembled in his soul. What was he even doing?

* * *

 _5.06 pm. Tuesday, November 5, 2020_

The next twenty hours after meeting with Julia were an emotional rollercoaster to Spencer Young. He was excited to see her again. He was terrified that she'd figure out who he really was and that this surreal bliss would end as suddenly as it started. He wanted to know her better, but a thought that his past would only cause her trouble was driving him crazy. When the doorbell rang, he felt a chill down his bones.

"Several police cars, maybe a SWAT team. That's what's waiting for me," he muttered to himself, checking himself in mirror. He was well groomed and his checked shirt, dark sweater and grey trousers seemed on point too. "But it doesn't matter anymore. I've vanished for long enough. My message did everything it could have. Now, I can…" He opened the door slowly, but despite his fears, no one knocked him to the ground, yelling at him that he was arrested. There was only Julia, smiling cheerfully.

"Hello! Are you ready?"

"But of course," Spencer put on his trench coat and followed the vixen. "Do we take a car, or…"

"It's not far, we can walk…" Julia suddenly paused, reminding herself about fox's limping. "I mean, if it's not a problem to you…"

"Just try not to kill me," he smiled and so did she. They left Spencer's house and headed toward the city center. They first went to the XIII-century castle and cathedral, afterwards she shown him the ruins of the old town, the promenade, couple useful stores, post office, bus and train stations and several other places. She kept talking and Spencer listened carefully, gaining practice of this weird language of these lands. Eventually, they ended up at a dinner in pizzeria. They sat down by a table for two and made an order, for which they were now waiting. Spencer hanged the cane on back of his seat and Julia's sight stopped at it for a moment.

"So… sorry for being so straight-forward, ut what are you doing here, in Kędrzyn?" She asked.

"If you want me to go…"

"No, no, I just…" Julia chuckled with embarrassment, probably for the first time since they met. Spencer really enjoyed the view. "I mean, you just came here and randomly bought a house. Do you have a family here, or… well, if you had a girlfriend, we wouldn't be here, would we?"

"I don't. I sort of… ran away?" Spencer explained. "I… two years ago, I had a car accident. I… caused it, for matter of speaking. Lost control in the rain, had a truck hit us. My parents were killed, I had my leg crushed. I lost a job of my dreams, a girlfriend dumped me… everything crumbled. I couldn't handle it. I couldn't handle driving these same streets every day reliving that day. So one day, I just dropped it all, sold my stuff, got the permission papers and… came here, to my grandfather's land," he sold her a story he had prepared long time ago and practiced before mirror a thousand times. Julia seemed to have bought it.

"I'm sorry. I…" She seemed a bit awkward now. "I have no idea how poorly it must feel to have lost your parents," she fell silent for a moment. "So you just dropped it all and… you have no one here?"

"I have you, now," Spencer replied, gazing her straight in the eyes and Julia replied with a smile.

"A start as good as any, I guess. You've got to know your neighbors first, right?"

"Yeah. So, can you tell me something about you?" Spencer asked. "I've told you a lot about myself and you've told me plenty about the city and the country, but… not so much about yourself."

"I guess…" Julia shrugged. "There's not much to say. Just an average girl with average life."

"Come on, don't make me plead," he asked and she pretended to hesitate.

"Oh, I don't know… I'd like to watch you begging…" She giggled teasingly. "What can I say… I was born here, lived with my parents for most of my life. I went to a uni in Deńsk, but… but I guess I had too high expectations."

"What did you study?" Wondered Spencer.

"English philology. And German philology too, as a separate course. And I learnt French and Spanish a bit. And I can read Cyrillic. Languages, I'm killing it. No wonder, since both my parents are immigrants, mom from East, dad from West. I suck at math, but give me a language and couple months and… What?"

"You suck at math?" Spencer asked with sort of amusement.

"Totally. Twelve years of education for nothing. Quadratic function? Black magic to me," she explained and realized how her newly-met friend was watching her with amusement. "No way. Don't tell me you're a mathematician or something like this…"

"I got Bachelor Degree in Electronics," Spencer confessed with a smirk.

"Damn it. OK, I'm not that stupid. I can count percentage, I do my tax reports. I just don't… You get it," she muttered awkwardly.

"Hey, you know lots of languages. I will never be able to say the same," Spencer pointed out and she smiled reluctantly. "So, you finished English and German philology. What happened then?"

"I… I aimed high. I wanted to travel across the world, live a life of a vagabond, learning new cultures and people until I'd find my place, but… but I guess I lacked courage, plan, money, determination or… you name it," she explained awkwardly. "So I came back here. My old high school needed a teacher, so I signed up. I started to like it, so I stayed," she finished.

"Do you plan to travel one day?" Spencer asked, but she shook her head.

"No, I have too many responsibilities now. School, parents… The chance's gone," Julia sighed. "See? Like I said, not much to be proud of. Little vixen's silly dreams and delusions."

"Hey, it's not too late just yet. There's plenty years ahead, anything can happen," Spencer tried to cheer her up.

"I guess… So, you have no plans. Any job, at least?" She changed the subject.

"Not really. Why?"

"My school's missing a Math and Physics teachers. If you had qualifications, I could introduce you to the principal. If you want, that is. Teacher's payment's awful and it's a…"

"No, I like the idea. It'd be a nice change," Spencer assured. It was his plan anyway.

"OK, we'll go there tomorrow and I'll introduce you, how about that?"

"Sounds perfect to me," he assured and at that moment, the waiter brought their pizzas. Both foxes smelled the aroma that suddenly filled the air around them. "I didn't know a pizza could smell this good," Spencer said and she giggled.

"Wait till you taste it," Julia replied with a smirk, reaching for a first slice. Just like she promised, it was ridiculously tasty. Still, they didn't eat in silence. Spencer would not miss a chance to exchange a word with her and he was slowly acknowledging that Julia was interested in him too. The thought was just as exciting as it was terrifying, because if he was ever to have any serious plans about her, it could mean only one of the two things; that he'd either have to lie to her for the rest of life or tell her the truth. He didn't know which possibility was more disturbing.

* * *

 _8:26 am. Friday, June 13, 2021_

Spencer Young, or rather Thomas Piotrowski, was accepted as the high school teacher without much of a problem. He quickly gained himself sympathy and respect of both teachers and pupils, as a socially active, polite and devoted teacher. And he had to admit, he liked the job. It was exhausting, frustrating at times and inadequately paid, but satisfying in the end. Thomas adapted to the society rather quickly, now able to speak in the native language for most of the time. Some puns still went over his head and if someone spoke fast, he had trouble making out separate words, but he was handling it rather well.

And, far more importantly, Thomas really started to like his new life and country. He liked how the mammals were more quiet and modest. While there was nothing to envy about the government, he really liked the general cynical attitude toward everyone and everything government-related. They start giving money for second and further children for certain species? "I wonder from whom they'll take it from to give it to us." A politician promises to deal with corruption and nepotism? "Hey, isn't it the same guy that employed half of his family when he won elections?" This really was the kind of attitude that suited Thomas.

He was starting to feel like at home in here. Neighbors knew and liked him. He had never been slurred simply for the fact of being a fox, something that was still frequent back where he was born. He knew at least two foxes that were cops here and no one was making a fuss about it. Hell, they had a fox president fifteen years earlier and the guy was a living legend by now; when some lunatic got past his security and tried to stab him in a museum, he knocked him out himself, almost breaking poor guy's jaw. The only reason why he wasn't a president to this day was the two-election limit. In Zootopia, as progressive as it claimed to be, it would probably impossible. As different as this world was, he could call it a home.

And then, there was Julia, a vixen that helped him out in those few first months more than he could have asked for. She liked him and she wasn't even trying to hide it. He adored her and even if he wanted, he wouldn't be able to hide it. And so, everyone knew.

Thomas Piotrowski felt as happy as he probably had never before. And not even the fact that they were in the middle of his first school trip, probably the most stressful time to any inexperienced teacher, could ruin it.

"Filip, if you're late today again, the bus goes without you!" Julia warned a student who was just finishing his meal and leafing the lunchroom. He nodded obediently and vanished in the corridor immediately.

"You're merciless," Thomas Piotrowski muttered.

"And he was late," riposted Julia firmly.

"Well, someone has to be," pointed out another teacher, Mr. Maciej Wiśniewski. "You've watched the noir cop movies, right? Good cops, bad cops," he pointed at Thomas and himself and then, at Julia at old Mr. Węgrzyn sitting somewhere in the back. "And everything works just fine."

"I guess. Alright, thank you, everyone," Thomas, having finished his meal, stood up from the table; another new thing in this country. Apparently, when you're done eating, you're supposed to thank everyone for accompanying you, even if you've done the meal alone. Silly, but cute.

" _Na zdrowie_ ," replied Julia. "And… thank you as well. See you at half past nine, everyone," she stood up from the table and carried her plate back with Thomas and they left the canteen together. Julia checked the time.

"We still have an hour. A quick game?" She suggested, pointing at the pool table.

"Why not?" He went for cue balls and sticks to the reception, set up the game and allowed her to start. Neither of them were excellent players, but both had little practice in the past. This led to some intense confrontations, with the victor emerging in the very last moment. And this time, it was Thomas's lucky star that was shining bright.

"Ah! I almost had it!" Julia put the stick on the table with surrender.

"Today, I win. So, do I get…" He booped her on her nose with his. "A reward?" He stole a kiss of her neck. Julia giggled and then, she wrapped her paws around him and kissed him, pressing her boyfriend against the pool table.

"Mrs. Nowik, can we…" one of the students came to the room, paused, stared at the two teachers in an unequivocal situation and stood, with them watching him with annoyance. An imaginations of all the Fs he might have earned at that very moment crossed his mind and cleared his throat and stepped back carefully, trying to save himself. "I… never mind!" And then, he was gone. Julia laughed and so did her boyfriend.

"We're demoralizing students here," she admonished him.

"Teachers can have love interests. What an outrageous concept indeed," Thomas chuckled. "Wait until they see you in a swimming suit. Now, that will be demoralization."

"Oh, I can't even imagine," Julia shook her head fearfully and then, they laughed again.

* * *

 _2:36 pm. Friday, June 11, 2021_

The day was hot as very rarely and after four hours of sightseeing, everyone greeted the vast sea before them and an idea of bathing in it with pure joy. The kids and three teachers, Thomas, Julia and Maciej, were changing into the swimming suits, while two other teachers supervised whole the group from the land.

"Alright, you know the rules, kids! If I see anyone beyond reach of watering place, he's out of water!" Warned Julia Nowik, barely has she left the changing boot. Couple kids assured they heard her and ran straight into the salty water.

"Awesome! Mr. Piotrowski, where did you get those?" Some student asked and Julia turned around to see that couple pupils were staring at Piotrowski's naked back. The fox chuckled, scratching his head nervously.

"What's going on?" She walked over to them.

"Mrs. Nowik, have you seen Mr. Piotrowski's scars?!" One of students exclaimed excitedly.

"Scars?" Asked Julia, rather confused. Of course, she knew that he had a bitten ear, everyone saw it… And then, she gasped, as Thomas turned around and showed her three long gnashes across his back. The fox kept giggling nervously.

"Aren't they awesome?! Mr. Piotrowski, how did you get them?!"

"Um…" Thomas didn't really know what to say. "I don't come from a nice neighborhood. A certain bear didn't like me one bit," he explained finally.

"To the water, kids," Julia ordered suddenly and the pupils obeyed reluctantly. She watched her boyfriend concerned and a bit confused. "You never told me you have…"

"You never asked," Thomas shrugged. "So, to the water?" He suggested.

"No, girls wanted to play volleyball on the beach. I'll be playing with them," she excused herself. Something was biting her, but he couldn't tell what it could have been.

"O…K… I'll be going then. Till later!"

"Till later," Julia repeated absently. She watched her boyfriend walking through the sand carefully, but not limping half as badly as the day they met. Suddenly, a long forgotten idea sparked in her mind. An idea that terrified her to the bone, but if she wanted to ever think of her and Thomas seriously… she had to know.

That evening, after everyone went to sleep, Julia Nowik brought out her laptop, connected to Wi-Fi of her phone and began to dig through Internet. She spend next few hours, bringing up, analyzing and verifying everything that she could find on ZooTube and webpages of ZPD and various Zootopia newspapers. And over the few hours, pieces started slowly, but inevitably falling in their places.

When she was sick of it, Julia shut her laptop with a slam and stormed outside her house. She left the resort they were sleeping at until she found her way to bank of a small lake. And there, staring in the moon, Julia Nowik cried pathetically, for she knew the truth.

* * *

 _6:17 pm. Friday, December 17, 2021_

The winter of year 2021 was one of the most beautiful in decades. It had been snowing constantly since the start of December and not even once had the temperature dared to rise above -5 degrees Centigrade. The young ones were organizing the snowball battles, building snowmen and ice-skating and riding down hills on sleighs. The old ones, in meanwhile, cursed two-feet high snowdrifts everywhere, as they shoveled the snow away in constant, but futile effort. The days are growing short and nights turned long. It wasn't even 7 pm, but outside Thomas Piotrowski's house, darkness had succumbed the city of Kędrzyn. Both Thomas and Julia were sitting in the dining room, drinking hot cocoa, eating a ginger cake and checking their students' exams, sometimes praising their creativity, but usually cursing their lack of knowledge or preparation. Julia was absorbed fully with her task, but Thomas couldn't really bring himself to sit down to the thing. He kept glancing at his girlfriend. Back in the summer, they endured their first crisis. In the middle of June, something had changed. They grew colder to each other, started seeing each other less and less. And then, something cracked in the two of them and in the end of August, they came together again. Thomas Piotrowski never did fully understand what had caused these events. For the matter of speaking, he merely knew that it was Julia that caused both turning points, he only reacted to them. He never had courage to ask her about it and she never decided to tell him.

"If you keep staring, you'll never check all the exams on time," warned Julia and she giggled playfully. Thomas blushed and lowered his sight. A small package hidden under the blanket just left of him, that he had smuggled in here when she wasn't watching, suddenly touched his side, reminding him of itself. Hopefully, there would come time for it. But beforehand…

"Julia… Can we talk about something?" He pleased. His girlfriend watched him carefully, as she pushed her students' works aside and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Of course we can. Did something happen?" She worried.

"I… I have something to tell you. Something I should have told you long time ago, but I lacked courage. It's…" Thomas took a deep breath. He felt her disturbed, most curious sight, focused at him. There was no backing away now.

"My real name. My real name is…"

"Spencer Young," she finished for him suddenly. The fox stared at his girlfriend in pure horror.

"H… How did you…" He stuttered, but she only laughed amusingly and nuzzled his cheek with hers. "How did you know?" Thomas managed to say finally.

"A young, handsome and clever fox from New World moves in to a not so big town somewhere in the poor region of the Old World and tries not to stick out. He has brown eyes, bitten ear, scars across his back and limping that cures surprisingly fast for old damage he claims it to be…" Julia continued to explain. "And all of that just after Spencer Young vanished. It took me a while, really. No one really heard here more than couple sentences about the incident in Zootopia. And then, you went through a plastic surgery and operation of larynx changed tone of your voice. I even saw the small marks on your throat that you still have. A completely different fox. And yet, until I saw your scars in June, the thought had not even crossed my mind."

"June… So that's why…"

"Mhm," Julia nodded. "But do you want to know what really gave you away?"

"What?" Thomas was intrigued.

"Accent. It's not from Lake City, but Zootopian," she revealed and he laughed and kissed her on the cheek.

"Just look at you, my genius linguist," he congratulated and then, he saddened suddenly. "So, I am Spencer Young. And everything you've heard of me… the most of it, at least… it's true."

"Can you tell me about it? About what you've done? I've read the Manifesto and heard the interview for like thousand times, but…"

"They're honest. Everything I wrote or said back then was completely true. If it were not, everything would lose its point," Thomas assured and when Julia thought he wouldn't say anything more, he continued. "But they're incomplete."

"What do they lack?" She asked, intrigued.

"Many things I didn't want to admit publicly and everything that happened after funeral of Mr. Reynolds. That Monday's afternoon was when I recorded the interview and prepared the documents to be sent throughout Zootopia. But a lot happened after that point."

"You were betrayed," she guessed and Thomas smiled and nodded.

"Yes, I was, but before that... At first, when I was accused of being or murdering the Mauler, I was furious… no, fed up. I wanted to show them all and I thought I could have everything; that I could cock a snook at all of Zootopia's high and mighty, get away with Scarlet and then, live happily ever after in a land far, far away. But then, everything started falling apart. I saw that not only Jacobs and Morrows intended to betray me, but not even Scarlet did love or care about me. That was when I changed my plan; I wanted to flee alone, forgetting about everyone that I'd leave here."

"And then, she betrayed you," Julia guessed and he nodded. His paw clenched on his cup, just as he thought of that fateful Tuesday morning.

"I was supposed to die back then. There was no way I could have survived the fall. But for some reason, I did. And yet, my plan was in crumbles. Scarlet meant to harm innocent mammals and there was little I could have done about it."

"But you tried nonetheless."

"I did. Above all, I had to save Kaylee. I promised her that no more harm would be done to her. And I had to kill Greymane, that monster," he explained. "I found them, but I was late. Max Reynolds had already ensured her safety. All I could do, was killing Gerard," he laughed painfully. "What an empty, meaningless gesture it was in the end. And when it was done, all that was left for me, was to vanish. So that, even though everything had fallen apart, my message still had a chance to live on. So I jumped again, this time into a waterfall. Head first, hoping that it would break my neck and that the currents would take my body far into the sea. But even in that, I failed."

"Who helped you then?" Asked Julia, intrigued and he smiled to the memory.

"A most unexpected ally."

* * *

 _8.14 pm. Tuesday, August 27, 2020_

I woke up with massive headache and completely confused. I was locked in a small, dry room, which certainly was not a cell. It had no windows and the only thick door was locked tight. A lonely camera in the corner was staring at me in silence. I still had the same clothes on me as in the morning I tried to stand up, but pain in my left foot almost knocked me unconscious. And then, the door opened suddenly and I saw a fox. He was forty or so, but he had this… spark in him, that made you tremble in his presence. He threw me a set of fresh clothes, a towel and a pair of crutches.

"Good to see you awake, boy. You have ten minutes. She's waiting," he said.

"What? Who is…" I tried to ask, but the door slammed before I got to finish. I dried myself up, changed the clothes and tried to stand with the crutches. My left foot was completely useless. Then, the fox returned.

"Alright, let's go," he ordered and I followed him, trying to keep pace in the narrow corridor. At the time, I didn't even consider running away. I'd be no challenge for the guy even if he were handicapped, not me. "You'll now speak with the Lady," informed me the fox. "Be polite. Sit only if she allows. And if you don't want to part with your life, do not do anything stupid. The Lady might be over her killing days. I am not," he warned.

I only gulped and nodded, as he guided me to another, slightly bigger room. Inside, on a small couch, there was a wolf of perfectly white fur. Most of her body, including whole torso, entire left paw and part of her face, were covered in partially red bandages. She had only one eye; what was left of the other was a long scar. I suddenly realized who I was standing before: Lady Jennifer Tompkins, former mobster, known entrepreneur and philanthropist and the self-proclaimed guardian of the predator district of Zootopia, Happytown. I bowed before her immediately.

"Duchess," I said respectfully. She turned away from her laptop and watched her carefully.

"Sit down, boy," she ordered me and the fox pulled a chair to me. I filled her order and Duchess continued. "Quite a deceiver, aren't you? Everyone believed Wilde was the murderer. Everyone thought he had done it in passion. Thunders' men believed Wilde had the briefcase. And no one even came up with an idea that in all that chaos, you simply stole the Moonlight and hoped to sell it… or that it never was simply about the money or revenge."

"I did what foxes do best. I lied and lied and lied," I replied and she chuckled.

"You lied and deceived, Spencer. And in the end, it got you killed."

"The message is more important than me. If I vanished, it'd have a chance of spreading."

"The message? Oh, you speak of this?" Duchess shown me a pendrive and I recognized it immediately. It was where he had his interview recorded. I searched my pockets, only then realizing that I had left his old jeans in the earlier room.

"Did you…"

"If you think deciphering it was a problem, you underestimate me, boy. And I also have the original Manifesto and all documents accompanying it. I must say… excellent work there. The plan was brilliant and surprisingly foolproof. Even if you died back there… especially if you died back there, for the matter of speaking, the message would be spread nonetheless, wouldn't it? Because the documents have been already sent and the video is on the Web just as well, am I right?" She guessed.

"You're right, Duchess," I admitted reluctantly.

"And now, I'm suddenly feeling stupid about saving you," she giggled ominously. "I mean, I wanted to do good and help you out, but the best way to help you out would have been to allow you to drown. Tell me, what am I supposed to do about you?" She asked helplessly and I stared at her with confusion. She was toying with me. She already had everything plotted and her goon just waited to smack me in the head and drown me in a nearby canal…

"The Lady asked you something," the fox snarled and I turned at him. "You'd better reply."

"Um, I…" I looked back at Lady Tompkins, trying to figure out what she had planned for me.

"Truly, a brain teaser, isn't it?" She noticed. "On one hand, I owe you quite a lot. You killed Reynolds. You accidentally guided the remains of Wolf Pack right in my paws. You delivered me the tools to destroy Thunders, Blizzard and their allies. Those are some big favors to me. On the other hand, you stirred chaos across Zootopia. You scrutinized the only fox officer of this city. You lost control over the situation, endangering Wilde and couple other officers I happen to sympathize with. And then, you brought a bad name to all the foxes and my beloved Happytown. That is not something that I could left unpunished, is it?"

"It is not," I managed to say.

"Decisions, decisions, decisions… but then again, death would be a decent reward… and decent punishment, wouldn't it be?" She asked and giggled ominously, as I paled.

"I…"

"You want to die, so that the message is spread. On the other hand, you do want to live, don't you? No one wants to live like a guy that has just failed to kill himself," she pointed out and she was completely right. I clenched my fists on the chair, but what could I do? Attack her? I'd not make it alive out of the room. I'd not flee police and then, everything would be wasted. So I remained still.

"But then again…" The Duchess hesitated. "After my children were born, I promised myself I would not take another life ever again, so that they'd never have to carry the burdens of my crimes. I nearly broke this promise yesterday for sake of the two outlaws responsible for my husband's death. I should not break the promise for a decent boy like you. What do you say, Lionel?" She asked her fox guardian.

"I agree, my Lady. I'd say even that to live should be rewarding enough. And punishing enough at the same time," he expressed his opinion. The mobster giggled at the brilliant idea of his, which at the time, went over my head completely.

"I couldn't say it better! To live!"

"To live?" I asked, completely confused. Were they going to give me away to police? But that would contradict everything she had said before.

"But of course. You did me a huge favor, Spencer, so I'll make sure you land safely in a land far, far away and live there happily ever after. But then, you caused me and Happytown great harm. And for that, I shall sentence you to live with your sins. You're a good fox that murdered four mammals, kidnapped two other and nearly caused several deaths of innocents. But you will not receive absolution, for there will be no one to accept your forgiveness, not the victims, not the government," she explained. "You will live haunted by the guilt, because you're a good boy."

"You… mean it?" I stuttered.

"Of course, I do. And do you know what's the funniest part?" She asked and I slowly shook my head. "That I'm not going to spend a single cent on it. The reward for Moonlight that we found in the house where poor Miss Roth shall be held for few days more, will cover it all. One could say, you've bought yourself your new life," she laughed, as if she had told me an excellent joke, jumped to her feet and, patting me on the shoulder, bid me farewell.

"It is shame our paths have not crossed earlier, young boy. You could have gone very far. But you'll at least get your five minutes of fame," she told me with amusement.

"Thank you, Duchess."

"There's nothing to thank me for. Not a cent," she giggled. "Farewell, boy. Lionel, you know what to do," she said, leaving the room. And then, Lionel O'Dyna, right paw of the Duchess, took me. He got me my new identity, forged all the documents, organized the plastic surgery and change of the voice. And two months later, he sent me in a plane to the Old World, to a house he bought for me and the remaining sum of reward for Moonlight on my account. And that was when I met you.

* * *

 _6:39 pm. Friday, December 17, 2021_

When Thomas finished his story, Julia kept silent for a long moment, considering everything she had just learnt. For a moment, she didn't know what to say.

"So… does it really serve as a punishment? To live?" She doubted.

"I didn't understand her at first either," Thomas admitted. "And then, when I came here, I… I could not forget the events in Zootopia no matter how much tried. After a few months, I realized that I wouldn't forget how I shredded Reynolds' throat to pieces or how I watched Greymane mauling Lucas Wool. I won't get rid of thought of Kaylee Crane bleeding out, as I'm trying to bandage her in panic in some dark alley. The savage, twisted satisfaction which I took when smashing Greymane's head with a rusty, old pipe will be haunting me to the end of my days. Duchess knew it. That's why she let me go. Because she knew that it would be both relief and agony to me," he confessed, afraid to hug her, but she did so instead.

"One could say she gave you a wolf's ticket," she smiled.

"Huh?"

"Wolf's ticket. Wilczy bilet," she repeated the phrase in both her and his language. Thomas translated the words just fine the first time she said it, but still failed to catch the meaning. Julia sighed with annoyance, realizing they had no such phrase in English. "Wolf's ticket is an old thing when an official forbids you to ever come back to a university, factory or… city. So, Duchess gave you a wolf's ticket," she explained and Thomas chuckled.

"Right, wolf," he caught the joke finally and hugged his girlfriend. "But you knew all along, for couple months now. So why am I still here, not in prison?" He asked.

"Oh, well…" Julia lowered her sight. "At first, I wanted to call police immediately, but then a thought struck me. What if I'm wrong? I'd not only ruin our relationship, but maybe even your life. So I tried to dig deeper, but… the more details were fitting in, the more reluctant I was to tell anyone. You see…" She paused, awkwardly. "I studied the case very carefully. I dug out all the interesting bits and pieces. How Scarlet was furious with you that you didn't want to hurt anyone innocent because it'd be against your principles. How Hopps claimed she saw the good in you and the struggle you've been through. What you were really trying to achieve. And slowly, I figured that you are a good fox. A good fox that was pushed to do awful things for the greater good. I saw that good in you as well and I decided…" Julia stared him straight in the eyes. "I don't care who you were. I only care who you are and you are Thomas Piotrowski, the finest, kindest and the best fox I have met in my entire life. And all I hoped for, was to hear the truth from you," Julia exclaimed firmly and he watched her in astonishment for several silent seconds. And then, Thomas slowly enclosed his lips to hers and kissed her gently.

"I don't deserve you," he whispered.

"Maybe you don't, but… life's not about what we deserve. Life is about the chances it serves us and the ones we take. You had a chance to change Zootopia. You took it. Life saw that you tried hard and gave you a chance to start again. You took it. And then, I crossed your path and life gave me a chance to condemn you. I did not take it. I did not want it. I wanted you to be happy. I wanted us to be happy. And if the world ever finds out and takes its chance to condemn me… then so be it," she said, not without fear, but with a sly smirk that he returned. Slowly, he reached for a small box he had been hiding from her for whole this time. And before she noticed, he was already kneeling before her with a ring in his paw.

"Julia Nowik, will you marry me? Will you accompany me till the end of our days?" He asked hopefully. She glanced at the ring and then, gazed deeply into his eyes.

"Yes. Of course, I will," she promised without a second thought and fell into his arms, kissing him passionately. As they slipped on the floor, locked in the loving embrace, Thomas saw the moon shining bright through the window. And that night he believed again that in this different world, basked with this same moonlight, he could still find his happiness. Despite everything.

* * *

NOTE: The final chapter is arriving on Wednesday! And with it, some surprise!

NOTE 2: For the Old World Language I figured I'd use one other language that I can use, so all the words used are authentic, not some random jibberish :D


	26. Of love

_2.02 pm. Monday, May 3, 2021_

Kaylee Crane took her seat by the table and watched the microphone before her a bit dreadfully. The journalist sitting on the opposite side, a gazelle named Helen Santiago, offered the rabbit a cup of water and smiled encouragingly.

"Thank you for accepting our invitation. First time on the radio?" She asked.

"Yes, it is," Kaylee confirmed, looking around the recording room. The wall behind her was covered in Station 2's logo, the rest had sound-muffling palette's and a big glass window where technicians sat. It felt almost like questioning rooms back at the station.

"Stressed?"

"A bit," bunny nodded. "It's my first time after all. And I sometimes curse like sailor when I'm nervous," she admitted awkwardly and the reporter chuckled.

"There's nothing to worry about. I don't bite," promised the gazelle with a smile which Kaylee returned. Gradually, the room was filling with music and the journalist glanced at the technician behind the glass. "We'll be live in a minute."

"OK, then, let's do it," Kaylee took a breath and listened to the quiet countdown. The gazelle sipped some water, cleared her throat and then, they heard the opening music motive of her audition and she started.

"Good afternoon, everyone! It is Helen Santiago in Two By Two! Our today's guest is Technical Officer Kaylee Crane from Zootopia Police Department and co-founder of Reynolds Reperation Fund. Good afternoon, Officer Crane!"

"Good afternoon," the bunny replied a bit nervously.

"Last several months have been tough for all the brave folks of ZPD. Since murder of Thomas Reynolds and revealing plot of mischievous Spencer Young, passed eight months. The city and the institution of its protectors, trembled in their foundations. Most of Tundratown police's old guard were fired, sometimes even pressed charges against. But as it befits the protectors of this city, ZPD raised from his knees. Slowly, the situation has returned to normal, hasn't it?" The gazelle asked her guest.

"I don't think that we can speak of returning here. Just like the Nighthowlers, Young's Manifesto did change the city and its mammals. No one touched left the fray unchanged."

"Not even you?" Asked the gazelle. "Our listeners might not remember, but when his plan was beginning to crumble, you were the one whom Spencer Young kidnapped in order to force Detectives Wilde and Hopps into turning in."

"Indeed."

"How did it feel, to be kidnapped?" She asked politely. The gazelle had made sure beforehand that Kaylee would have no problem touching the subject, which bunny really appreciated.

"I guess I should say that I was scared…" Kaylee chuckled nervously. "At first, I was trying to escape, but it failed. At the morning of the trade I was surprisingly cool until I learnt that Scarlet Calveit betrayed Spencer. He was really the only mammal insisting on not killing me, so… Yeah…"

"But in the end, everything turned out just fine," concluded the gazelle. Suddenly, a sight of Spencer Young trying to kill her fiancé only to massacre Gerard Greymane with furious cry and tears in his eyes echoed in the rabbit's head.

"I was saved. All the perpetrators were either dead or arrested. Wilde was cleared of any charges. And then, Spencer Young revealed his real intentions; to reveal the truth behind Zootopia," she concluded.

"Ah, yes. The infamous press conference, after which Detectives Wilde and Hopps vanished for nearly two months," the journalist said with note of blame.

"Was it really this surprising?" Kaylee asked with just as subtle tone of blame, but pointed in the quite opposite direction. "It took the city a week to proclaim Wilde all the things he was not. It wasn't Spencer Young that was trying to break him; it was the city and ZPD. His own mammals. And no one except for Chief Bogo dared to apologize officially. Wilde needed time to find his place again after all of it," she argued. "It's hard to admit, but Spencer Young did win that day, for he was right."

"But he paid the highest price," recalled Mrs. Santiago. "Even though ZPD found no body, the case has been officially shut down. According to Chief Bogo, there is no proof of the fox making it out of there."

"Indeed," Kaylee confirmed, even though she still couldn't believe it. But then, Spencer whom she remembered from high school was a different mammal than the one that she faced after Reynolds' murder.

"It was a bad time for ZPD, was it not? The corruption of Tundratown was revealed and the paragons of Wilde and Hopps vanished temporarily," the journalist pointed out.

"A lot of bad things occurred… but lots of good ones as well, eventually. ZPD faced hard time, but we dealt with all the corruption and accusations. We did the justice we are meant to and a lot of good mammals worked toward this success, recently promoted Detectives Wilde and Hopps eventually included," Kaylee assured.

"And we should not forget of the hero that was born that day, Detective Maximilian Reynolds. Such a colorful character, isn't he? Son of the millionaire, a millionaire himself until recently, young ZPD Officer who during the fateful August events saved you and Detectives Wilde and Hopps, for which he was nominated to a Detective and awarded with Medal of Valor. The main funder of the Reynolds Reparation Fund and, last but certainly not least, your fiancé. Or is it husband now?" The gazelle asked and Kaylee giggled.

"Fiancé and very, very soon, a husband," she clarified dreamily. "Max…" she sighed deeply. "I don't really know where to start. It was tough time for him, but he did what he could. He lost his father, then he nearly lost me. And when he had me back, he learnt of truth behind his father. Such burden would overwhelm someone weaker, but Max… it only gives him strength to fight on."

"It is admirable, given how much he suffered. After atrocities of his father were revealed, he decided to give all of his fortune to those at harm immediately. And even though some doubted, he did deliver, didn't he?" Mrs. Santiago asked with respect.

"He did. According to recent investigations, approximately ninety-eight percent of Reynolds' fortune will have been spent on reparations to the victims by the end of next year. The city even agreed for all the reparations to be tax-free. But on the other hand, they got quite a chunk too, so I guess it doesn't matter in the end," she chuckled.

"And what happened with the other two percent?" Wondered the journalist.

"All sorts of the costs on the way; funding everyone that helped us to get to everyone and pay them respectably. There was… there are a lot of mammals involved, lots of good, devoted mammals that went beyond measures to seek truth. We provided them funds for it to be possible. And also, Max decided to keep a small chunk of money for us. A single pro mille for the sake of our future family and guaranteeing our financial safety," Kaylee explained.

"Oh, it's only reasonable," agreed Mrs. Santiago. "Everyone deserves fair living, you included. And besides, it's been long since Max Reynolds has been the only funder. His noble actions were inspiration to many," she pointed out.

"Yes, it has inspired many, Mayor Ketchikan, Mr. Lester Rouge, Lady Jennifer Tompkins or mammals from Reynolds Industries to only name the few. Mammals approached us carefully at first, not sure if it was really happening. But when they trusted us… It was an avalanche of kindness and good will. Some helped us with money, the others with good advice and guidance. It made me believe in the city once again," Kaylee smiled and the journalist returned it.

"And not only you, Officer. The Fund has done plenty of good in just few months. But tell me, what are your future plans?" The journalist wanted to know.

"The initial sum that we operated seemed tremendous for itself, but thanks to all the kind souls believing in our ideas, we have nearly doubled it eventually. Initially we believed we'd spend it all to repair all the harms caused by Thomas Reynolds. Now we know it is impossible; the amount of money gathered over last year is simply too much. We are still working on the idea, consulting it with the main benefactors but… but we hoped we could invest the money in the parts of the city that need it. Modernize hospitals, renovate orphanages, fund scholarships for the most talented students and so on. With all the money spent, the Fund shall be eventually shut down and I and Max will return to our normal life," Kaylee explained.

"Could such an extraordinary couple have a normal life?" Asked Mrs. Santiago half-jokingly.

"That's what I'm hoping for," the bunny replied.

"And the entire Zootopia hopes for you just as well. Thank you for your time, Officer Crane. Or is it Officer Reynolds already?" Both of them chuckled.

"Soon. Very, very soon."

* * *

 _1.23 pm. Saturday, May 15, 2021_

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear…" Kaylee was pacing the floor of her bedroom nervously, with her heart hammering and paws trembling. The mask of calmness had shattered, only panic remained. When her best maid, Judy Hopps, came back to the room, Kaylee fell in her arms almost knocking a hot cup out of her paws.

"Where have you been?!" She asked with relief. Judy watched her carefully, dressed in her simple yet wonderful, snow-white wedding gown, shaking like a leaf. Hopps put paws on her shoulders gently.

"Sit down, Kaylee," she suggested and the two rabbits sat down on the bed. Judy handed Kaylee a cup of some warm drink and the bunny accepted it hesitantly.

"What's that?"

"Tisane from Max to calm your frayed nerves," Judy explained and watched her carefully as she was emptying the cup. The bunny was trembling and nearly crying, clearly unable to handle all the pressure.

"Oh gosh, I can't do it, I just…" Kaylee paused, feeling Judy's arm wrapping around her and glanced at her best friend and best maid.

"Everything's going to be alright," promised Judy. "You've gone so far together. This is just another step. And the most wonderful and the happiest step you've taken this far to that," she was trying to encourage her. "I think, I have never been married myself," Judy added and Kaylee chuckled nervously.

"Yet," she managed to joke and then, she shivered. "I'm freaking out. I really, really, am," she confessed fearfully. "There's so many things that could go wrong! We haven't practiced the whole ceremony and…" She was starting to enumerate, when Judy put a finger on her lips silencing her.

"You love him," she stated.

"I do," Kaylee confirmed firmly.

"And so does he love you."

"He does."

"And this is all you need today. Let me and Nick take care of the rest, OK?" Judy pleased and the bride muttered something hesitantly.

"Mhm."

"Come over here," Hopps hugged her best friend. "Everything is going to be alright. Today is supposed to be the most wonderful day of your life and I'm going to make sure it really is. So take a deep breath, wipe those tears, blow your nose and smile. You're getting married," she encouraged her. Kaylee took a deep, slow breath and shivered gently. Warmth of Judy's body was slowly bringing her peace.

"Thank you," Kaylee managed to smile, probably for the first time today. "I… How are the boys doing?" She worried.

"Um… good?" Judy lied.

* * *

 _2.25 pm. Saturday, May 15, 2021_

"Seriously, what is this thing?! Why can't I…" Max was brushing his chest intensively, trying to remove the remaining blue paw marks covering his chest. Nick was just standing in the back, trying his best not to laugh.

"Hey, it's already gone from the face. The suit will cover the rest," the fox was trying to lift his spirit up.

"Yeah, sure. Seriously, though, what the hell is this?!" The wolf continued to brush angrily.

"Don't you remember? It's war paint," Wilde informed him amusingly.

"What?!"

"A war paint. Warriors would get these…"

"How did I get a war paint at a stag-party?!" Reynolds protested at the absurd of the situation.

"Yeah, you might not remember," Nick admitted. "Do you remember how you started arguing with Wolford about your inheritance? Like you both claimed you came from ancient royal lines and you couldn't agree on which one was the nobler one?"

"Yeah, I remember?" Max was watching his best man suspiciously.

"And you figured you'd solve it with a drinking tournament?" The fox asked again.

"I… think I remember? The start at least? Who won?"

"Well, ten rounds later both of you were standing, so you called it a draw and decided to solve it in one truly manly way. A duel," Nick paused and, enjoying horror in groom's eyes.

"Like a sword fight?" He stuttered.

"So you do remember!" Nick grinned and Max hesitated and then, shook his head slowly.

"Did we have swords?" He asked suspiciously.

"Of course not, that would be dangerous!" Nick protested. "But we did give you broomsticks. Wolford took his suit off and you dropped your shirt and then, you demanded that you wanted a war paint like a true Nord. So we found the paint…"

"What paint?" Max managed to ask, but the fox only shrugged.

"It washes off," he looked at the bright side. "Anyways, you made the war paint and dueled. You struggled for five minutes or so, until you smacked Wolford in nose. You shed the blood first and thus, you won," he concluded with the story.

"And in meanwhile, you, my best man, just stepped back and watched everything from safe distance?" The wolf asked with blame. He was hoping for the fox to prevail exactly this kind of situation.

"Oh, I did try to stop you despite the popular opinion, but you said that a Nord shall not be ordered around by anyone, not even his own chronicler," Nick said in his defense. "So I stepped back and filled a humble chronicler's duty."

"Did you?" Max tilted his head, unsure whether to be afraid or happy.

"I took photos," Nick clarified with a smirk.

"No! No freaking way!" He protested and then, lightened up. "You have them here?"

"Of course I do," the fox waved his phone.

"Show them!" He dropped the towel excitedly walking over to Nick. The fox didn't hesitate only he had already made a backup on his laptop back home. He found said photos and handed the cell to the groom. Reynolds started swiping, browsing the photos, from the war paint ritual, to the duel and Max's triumph. The fox even caught the exact moment when Max smacked Wolford in face.

"Oh, that's pure gold. You've got to send them to me," Max pleased.

"I will. You'd better dress up, we don't have much time left," the fox warned.

"Yeah, yeah… the paint's gone, isn't it?" The wolf asked and Nick watched him carefully.

"It will pass," he decided finally.

"OK, I need to… crap, I left my tie in the bedroom. Be right back," Reynolds ran out of the bathroom and charged upstairs. He knocked and opened the door to the bedroom, when a well-aimed cushion smacked him right in the face and forced to pull back.

"No peeking! You're only seeing her at the ceremony!" Warned Judy, echoed by Kaylee's giggle.

"Um… right. Could you hand me my tie? It should be hanging on the chair," he pleased, sticking a paw out. A few seconds later, he felt Judy handing it to him.

"How are you doing?" She asked.

"I'll be ready in five minutes and we're going," Max promised and felt the doubtful sight Judy must have been giving the half-dressed wolf. "Really."

"So… see you at the place?" The bunny guessed.

"See you at the place," he agreed.

* * *

 _4.00 pm. Saturday, May 15, 2021_

The sun shone as brightly as rarely in Meadowlands while the warm wind blew in Max's face. Standing by the altar, he was feeling as hot as ever and yet, he could hardly stop the shivering. He glanced at Nick, Jason Wolford and an old friend, Alex Fakes, his groomsmen, all dressed in black suits and smirking confidently. On the other side of the altar stood the two bridesmaids Kaylee decided to have: Judy Hopps, cheerful as ever, and Ashley Crane, with whom Kaylee was getting along better and better over the months. Just behind them, by the altar, stood the officiant of the ceremony; no one else than Chief Bogo himself, surprisingly dressed in suit like everyone else. Max chuckled while glancing at the water buffalo. He still remembered the look on his face when they asked him to take the role. It'd be first and probably the last time in their lives when they saw Chief actually abashed. The wolf turned his sight away to the mammals sitting in front of them. Everyone was there: almost entire ZPD Precinct 1, Max's close family in person of Anastasia Reynolds and distant one represented by several his aunts, uncles and cousins and all the other friends of the young couple. The only mammals that were lacking was Kaylee's family, whom she did not invite eventually. They never shared her sorrows, why should they share her joys?

"It will not rain on my parade," Kaylee's words from just two days earlier crossed his mind, brightening the wolf's mood immediately. It was their day and everyone came to celebrate it. They all were here. All except for the one…

"There she goes," whispered Nick suddenly and Max searched for her with sight. And then, he saw her stepping carefully through the grassy aisle, guided by the only parental figure she had ever had in her life; Mrs. Sylvia Wilde. Dressed in her pure-white dress with wonderful veil, Kaylee looked like a scarred and yet, most beautiful angel. She was slowly walking down the aisle, nearing them.

 _"_ _This is not happening, is it?"_ Crossed wolf's mind. _"Crap, it really is happening. And dear Lord, isn't she beautiful? How did I wind up this lucky? It feels like cheating… Is Mrs. Wilde crying? No, there's no way. And I do hope those are tears of joy… Bogo's staring at me. Now that he's the officiant, he'll break my neck if I ever treat her wrong. Never thought of it, lucklily. OMG, she's already here… Now cool. Play it cool, damn it!"_ The wolf cursed himself in mind and then, smiled nervously to Kaylee who had just stood by him in front of the altar.

"Dearly beloved, we have come together…" Chief Bogo began the ceremony, but Max could hardly focus on his words, watching his beloved bunny just few steps from her. How wonderful she looked, how joyous she felt, glancing at him stealthily every now and then…

"Into this union Maximilan and Kaylee now come to be joined," continued the Chief. Max realized suddenly that whatever interesting he had had to say at the start, it was gone now for eternity. Still, just gazing at her was completely worth it.

"If any of you can show just cause why they may not be lawfully wed, speak now, or else forever hold your peace," demanded Chief Bogo so threateningly that if anyone really had such cause, they'd speak right away just under the pressure of his. Max noticed how Kaylee watched the guests a bit sacredly and realized immediately what she feared; her family coming and ruining the day. But no one appeared, no one said a word. Only months later would Max learn that Chase Crane, who meant to disturb the ceremony, had three of his tires slashed so that he wouldn't make it in time; a wedding gift from the Duchess. Nick Wilde tried to crack a joke, but Wolford elbowed him right between the ribs prophylactically. Chief Bogo, satisfied with the continuing silence, turned to the bride and resumed.

"Kaylee, will you have this wolf to be your husband; to live together with him in covenant of marriage? Will you love him, comfort him and keep him, in sickness in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful unto him as long as you both shall live?" Asked Bogo, his voice soft as velvet. Kaylee eyed Max and smiled weakly.

"I will," she promised firmly. Bogo turned to the groom.

"Maximilian, will you have this rabbit to be your wife; to live together with her in covenant of marriage? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health; and forsaking all others, be faithful unto her as long as you both shall live?" He asked. Max shivered, he felt how his eyes were growing awfully watery.

"I will. Of course, I will," he somehow kept his voice from shaking. Chief Bogo nodded and turned to the congregation.

"Will all of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold these two persons in their marriage?" He asked.

"We will," the joyful, firm declaration of nearly two hundred souls almost brought Max to tears. So many mammals rooting for them, enjoying their happiness… He was so touched that he nearly forgot that it was the time for the vows. He took Kaylee's right paw in his and, gazing her in the eyes, he spoke:

"In the name of God, I, Maximilian Theodore Reynolds, take you, Kaylee Crane, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow," he declared with a tear flowing down his cheek. So he did cry in the end. Kaylee's paw slipped out of his and then, she took his paw again. With a blissful smile and voice trembling, she made her declaration.

"In the name of God, I, Kaylee Crane, take you, Maximilan Theodore Reynolds, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow," she promised smiling. Max wanted to howl with joy and only be fierce power of will did he stop himself from doing so. His heart pummeled like a blacksmith's hammer, blood rushed through his head like a wild river. As if through the mist he remembered how, with his paws trembling, he put a finger on his beloved's finger and then, how she did the same for him. The rest of ceremony passed in mere seconds to him. And then, Chief Bogo made the final declaration.

"Kaylee and Maximilian, having witnessed your vows of love to one another, it is my joy to present you to all gathered here as husband and wife," he spoke and turned to Max with a weak smile. "You may now kiss the bride."

Max reached toward Kaylee, kissed her passionately and, as she squeaked joyfully, he lifted her in the air. The witnesses stood up suddenly and began to applause. Max whispered to Kaylee something lost to the mist of excitement and she giggled back. If this wasn't happiness, then he had no idea what happiness was.

* * *

 _5.03 pm. Saturday, May 15, 2021_

After the festive luncheon on the fresh air, just before the band began to play, Nick Wilde took his glass of champagne in paw and knocked on it with the spoon loudly, bringing everyone's attention. Given the signal, the service began to offer full glasses of champagne to all the guests, while they watched the fox.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the first time I met Max was when Kaylee was spilling coffee all over his uniform and telling him to get lost. Accidentally, it was also their first time ever meeting… so you can only imagine what sort of first impression Max made on her," Nick smirked and heard numerous laughs across the audience. "But tell you what, when you make this kind of first impression and the girl still talks to you afterwards, then she's either going to be your death… or she's going to be your life," he paused glancing at the newlyweds and then, very shortly, on Judy. "And despite world's best attempts, Max and Kaylee stand here together. The said first meeting of our lovebirds took place almost two years ago. Just two years, one could say, but… but those were long, hard two years, for them especially. Those two years ago, both Max and Kaylee… Max especially…" Nick smirked at the wolf. "…Were just kids. Finishing their schools, venturing on their first adult life adventure in Police Academy and then, in ZPD itself. Both of them came here with their own sets of beliefs and fears, big and small. And then, life hit both of them like a truck, first separately, then together. It made them question everything they knew. It trialed them for a thousand times. The world tried to twist them, break them, kill them even at times… but they came out victorious and they came out together," Nick Wilde acclaimed proudly. He slowly raised his glass high in the air. "I want to raise a toast for this victory of theirs. For that whatever came in their path, they overcame it. I want to raise a toast for that to never change. For them to never give up. For them to live happily ever after. To Max and Kaylee!"

"To Max and Kaylee!" Everyone raised their glasses high and exclaimed cheerfully. Nick sighed down with sigh of relief and at the same moment, the music began to play. Max stood up, asked Kaylee if she'd want to dance. She took his paw, hopped off the chair and the two of them walked to the center. There, they danced their first dance in the rhythm of the joyful melody they had chosen months ago. Nick watched them enchanted, wondering how much dedication it took a wolf and bunny, given the difference of sizes, to learn dancing so smoothly and without a single slip. Soon he realized that everyone were watching the two of them just as bewitched as he did.

It lasted only couple minutes and afterwards, the music band's singer invited all the other couples to the dances. Without a second thought, Nick invited Judy and they joined the newlyweds along with dozen other couples. Sometime around the second, he exchanged smirks with Max, sometime around the fifth, he switched partners and got to dance with the bride. And then he did so again, again and again, until he found Judy yet again to not give her away anymore. The joyous time was passing quickly.

* * *

 _8.14 pm. Saturday, May 15, 2021_

"It's a silly, superstitious…" Judy tried to protest, but Kaylee already reached for her paw and was dragging her to the rest of the single ladies, waiting for the bride to toss the bouquet.

"Oh, are you afraid? Do it for the bride," Kaylee pleased with a giggle. "And if you protest any harder, Nick might be offended," she pointed out.

"Just throw it high, will you? Not straight into my paws," Judy pleased, agreeing reluctantly. Knowing Kaylee, she'd do everything to have those flowers end up straight in her paws…

"Throwing it to someone would be cheating! The fate shall decide!" Kaylee exclaimed joyfully, putting her with the rest of single ladies present, mostly ZPD officers or Max's distant cousins. Judy stood in the front so that she wouldn't disappear in the crowd of tall and glanced at Nick; he was barely containing a laugh. She rolled her eyes theatrically and suddenly, she heard couple girls around her squeaking. Before she even noticed, the bouquet was already in the air, flying high above their heads. Judy didn't even try to jump up, as the flowers were heading straight for Fangmeyer's paws, but then, they hit her in the forearm, slipped away from her and fell straight in surprised Judy's arms. The bunny stared at the colorful bouquet in her paws trying to contain the information among the cameras flashing and the cheerful clapping all around. Kaylee fell into her arms joyfully, almost knocking her out.

"I told you! And you didn't believe me!"

"It was an accident…" Judy tried to protest awkwardly, but the bride would not listen to any of her arguments.

"I threw it high! It was no accident, Judy, it was fate!" She exclaimed joyfully and then leaned forward to her to whisper something in her ear. "So, this is the part where you go to Nick and…"

"Now you're pushing your luck," Judy muttered awkwardly and glanced at the best man's seat. He was nowhere to be found. And then, she heard his voice right behind her.

"Ladies," he said and the two rabbits turned at him. Nick Wilde bowed theatrically in front of them, extending his paw to Judy. "Judith Laverne Hopps, would you like to dance with me?" He asked. Kaylee squeaked joyfully and Judy accepted his paw right away.

"But of course," she assured and he spun her, bringing her close. The fox began to guide her, gently and following the rhythm of melody. The music… Nick had ordered one of the few songs both of them really liked… the only one fit for dancing, actually… Before she even noticed, they were dancing all alone with everyone watching them. She blushed with embarrassment at first, but with the first glance into his eyes and subtle, joyful smile, these feelings were dispelled at once. That was what she wanted, wasn't it? For him to be happy. For them to be happy…

"Well, it is Kaylee's great night, isn't it? We surely cannot let her down," he eyed at the bouquet, barely containing a grin.

"I suppose…" Judy agreed and suddenly, her ears perked up. "Did you just…"

"Shhh… It is her great night," the fox smirked and she gazed into his deep green eyes for quite a moment.

"Dumb fox," she muttered with a chuckle. And so, they danced in silence.

* * *

 _6.47 am. Sunday, May 16, 2021_

"Hey, hey, hey, till the break of the day!" Kaylee ran between the tables, dancing joyfully. She bounced off the floor onto a chair and then, the table, just between the plates. "La, la, la, la, la, la…" drunk with happiness, she passed between the cutlery, platters, cups and glasses, spinning and turning. "Hey, hey, hey!" She jumped above paws of one of the servants and with dexterous move snatched a candleholder. "Dance the whole night through..." She spun with the candles still burning and hopped down back on another chair. "Nothing gets between the dancer and the moon!" She laughed joyfully, as Max caught her in the midair, put on the ground gently and spun her one time more.

"Not even do I?" He asked with a smirk.

"Oh, you are my moon. And my sun and my entire world…" She put the candlestick back gently. "Oh my, I'm so tired…" She yawned and glanced at the horizon; it was already dawning. Most of the guests were already gone, last couple ones had left just minutes earlier. It was just the two of them now. Or four, for the matter of speaking.

"Do you know where's my best man?" Max wondered, looking around.

"With my best maid!" Giggled Kaylee, guiding her newlywed husband. They found Nick and Judy in some distance, sitting on a bench just under an old oak. Judy was drowsing with her head lying on Nick's shoulder, while he was watching the dawn. Max and Kaylee sat by them, waking the tired bunny up.

"Long night, isn't it?" Kaylee smiled to Judy and she nodded weakly.

"Long, wonderful night… And incredibly tiring one, too," she agreed. "Is the party over?"

"So it seems. It's dawning already," Max agreed and yawned along with Kaylee. The excitement had carried them through last twenty-four hours without a single nap, but now the effect was slowly wearing off. "What a wedding."

"What a wedding indeed. Congratulations," Judy smiled. "So, what are you planning now?"

"The honeymoon. Not moon technically, merely three weeks, but…" Kaylee giggled. "We're going to see quite a chunk of the world."

"Yes, we are, starting on Tuesday," Max confirmed with a nod. "And then, back to Zootopia. How about you?"

"Oh, not much to say," Nick shrugged. "Old good ZPD."

"We've got that new case on our heads. The car thefts," Judy added.

"Oh, right. I sorta lost track of ZPD stuff in last few days," Max admitted shamefully.

"Oh, I wonder why," Kaylee giggled, as she hugged her husband's arm and closed her eyes.

"Yeah, I can't even imagine," agreed Judy watching Kaylee with a smile. She looked so blissful, so fulfilled, so… cute. Like she had finally found her place in the world. "I am so happy for the two of you. Really, I am."

"So am I," agreed Nick. "You came a long way to here."

"It wouldn't be possible without you," Kaylee muttered.

"Exactly. And I can't even express how happy we are for the two of you being here too. I thought for a moment that we lost the two of you," Max admitted.

"I told you that they'd come back eventually," Kaylee opened her eyes and gazed in Judy's. "It would take more than that to break the two of them," she said and both Nick and Judy chuckled, glancing at each other and then, they turned at the sun dawning at the horizon in front of them.

And they knew that it would take more than last year's events to break Nick and Judy. It would take more than whole the city disbelieving and slandering them. If they only could count on each other, they were going to prevail over perils far greater than the ones Spencer Young schemed. For even in the darkest, most hopeless of nights, they'd seek for moonlight of hope to guide them. And even if they'd found not even a ray, they'd wait out the dark, vicious storm and greet the dawn together. For even after the longest of nights, the sun always rises.

THE END OF BOOK 2.

* * *

AFTERWORD

What a ride, wasn't it? I want to thank all of you for your support and words of encouragement. To see that you've enjoyed the story is the most uplifting thing I've felt in quite a time!

I must say, I was initially reluctant to write the second book, claimed that I wouldn't write any and that one had to know when to let go... And then, silly me, I started creating in my mind a character of Spencer Young; someone that could have become like Nick, only if given a chance. My silly head conceived a concept, which conceived a plot, which conceived this very book. And even if I'm not trying to count the hours I've spent on it in last nine months, I certainly do not regret it :)

And this time, I'll be making no declarations of "I'm done already! Expect no more!" Quite the oppositely, I've been working on the third, the final book for nearly a month now. This time, though, it really will be the final book. I've created some (in my humble opinion) likeable and interesting characters; Max, Kaylee, Barnes, Mrs. Wilde, Duchess, Spencer Young... For many of them I could have just closed the book and said: the story's told. But it really is not, at least not just yet. There's so much more that I could say for Nick and Judy. There's so many untold stories, scrapped motives and conversations... So, I will give myself one more book to bring these Zootopia fanfics of mine to a conclusion they deserve. And even if I know that it will not close all of them... that's how life goes, right? You can't just conclude all plots, great and small, at once, right?

At first, it was a painting theft with a serial murderer motive, then I presented to you a framing story with a political twist. Now, it'll be something different too. Something hopefully just as original as the previous ones. I'll introduce some new characters, develop the old ones, conclude the plots I've failed to in "No Second Chances" or "Moonlight".

So... this is the official announcement:

The third and final Zootopia fanfiction from Sable1456/Icey1456/Aleksander Nowak (or whatever another you know me by :D )will be titled...

 **"The City of Change"**

The first chapter will be appearing tomorrow. Maybe even today, if I'm not dead tired by the time I publish the last chapter on all three websites :). To give myself time to write the following chapters, they will be appearing, for a start, on weekly basis, each chapter on Saturday or Sunday (the 2nd on 02.12.2017). I hope I'll make it in time with this pace for at least a couple of months. If not, I will be warning in advance.

So... I guess that'll be all. Thank you for being here, everyone. It really means a lot to me.

Peace!

Aleksander Nowak


End file.
